Learning More About Recovery
“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”
—Desmond Tutu.
I remember attending the Episcopal Recovery Conference in Asheville, North Carolina, some years ago, where I learned so much more about addiction recovery. First, I realized that the longer I am in recovery, the more I think I know and that I have heard it all. Today I am disabused of that thought. I know very little. That is why it is essential to continue attending gatherings like this.
One speaker, Chris Budnick, executive director of Healing Transitions in Raleigh, talks about how we think others' recovery should look like ours. That is not true. Recovery from addiction is not a cookie-cutter process. We share our experience, strength, and hope, but we must not expect others to have the same experience, strength, and hope. Perhaps we can see this more clearly in our spiritual life. We each have a spiritual connection to God, but it is different for each of us. Likewise, our response to recovery and our individual path to achieving it are different.
I learned another lesson that day. We often talk about someone not coming to recovery because they “have not hit bottom.” That means the person hasn’t reached a level of pain that allows openness to change. The speaker gave examples of others who changed because people in recovery kept telling them there was hope for freedom from addiction. Hope for an alternative life.
Mentors in recovery consistently convey that those who are farther along in recovery care about them, recognize what they are going through, and believe there is hope. Those caught in addiction may glimpse new life in the person in recovery who seems to care about them.
This is another way those in recovery can carry the message to those still suffering: by continuing to reach out and offer hope.
Joanna. Joannaseibert.com