The greatest thing about recovery is the vastness and inclusivity of the recovery community. No matter where we are, we can almost always find a meeting close by or reach out to someone in the recovery community for support. There are even recovery meetings that take place online if we are unable to find one nearby. When we go to a meeting or reach out to someone else, we are in a wonderful position of being able to benefit from their experience, strength, and hope to help us get through any problems we may face. The friendliness and open arms of the recovery community cannot be understated. Those who have successfully applied the principles of recovery to their own lives are nearly always happy to help share the message and show newcomers how they did it. According to Dr. Lee Ann Kaskutas in a 2009 article for the Journal of Addictive Diseases entitled Alcoholics Anonymous Effectiveness: Faith Meets Science, “AA solutions consistent with this characterization of the problem are evident at meetings, in the AA steps, and through people in the AA fellowship. Meetings provide an opportunity to share one’s own struggles (and learn how to talk about one’s feelings), to increase one’s motivation to abstain, and to get outside of one’s self (and change one’s mood) by hearing others talk about their problems and how AA helped them.” When we hear another person’s recovery story, we will undoubtedly find parallels to our own story. Their experience, strength, and hope can help us realize that we are not alone; there are countless others who have had similar experiences, similar feelings, and similar problems and successfully achieve and maintained abstinence. We can draw on their experience, strength, and hope for inspiration and apply it to their own recovery. Perhaps they share something that helped them when they were in early sobriety which we can then apply to our own recovery practices. The more we are involved with the recovery community, the more likely we are to hear something that speaks to us at a deep, emotional level. There may be times when we don’t feel a connection with someone else’s story, however, but if we keep coming back and listening to the experience strength and hope of others, we will undoubtedly find more and more commonalities that can help us on our own journey of recovery.
Your story can be one of hope and redemption. You can begin building a brighter future by making the courageous decision to seek help now. Oceanfront Recovery, a men’s treatment center in beautiful Laguna Beach, is staffed with caring and compassionate professionals dedicated to helping clients develop all the tools necessary to achieve and maintain a fulfilling life of sobriety. For information about individualized treatment options, please call today: (877) 279-1777
