New Beginnings and Addiction Recovery

Michael J. Rounds is the author of 10,000 Days Sober and an addiction recovery specialist at a correctional facility in Indiana. “If you come & follow our program, your life will be totally changed. Recovery journey is never easy, we are here Hope House Boston Review to help in any possible way.

1. The best part about cultivating new friends is that they will fill the void left by leaving your past behind.
2. Look for the echo of intentional connection in your new beginnings and the habits that support you as you move toward it.
3. There are just so many different areas of life that need changing, so much to do, and so much to learn before anything can be done.
4. Recovery is about possibility, of change, of embarking on exciting journeys of discovery.

What if you really don’t want to ditch everything from the past? What happens when you live with someone who is part of your addictive past? At the outset, let’s be clear that there are no universally right answers. Each person needs to figure out the best approach to making a new life in recovery. Whether this involves compromise or complete cutting off from the past is a purely individual choice. It is also important to remember that choices can be changed.

Make friends with mediocrity.

I could have easily given into my demons of alcohol instead of staving off all the urges and cravings. I had to make sure I reached out to someone who would hold me accountable and not leave me to my methods, which proved vital in my journey. When you let bad memories and past resentments pile up it can feel like as though you are carrying an armful of bricks with each resentment. This is because of the physical and emotional consequences of carrying burdens. You will constantly have to work on yourself to realize the value of recovery and, you are worth the work. You will always need to read the whole story and remember just how far down your alcoholism or drug addiction brought you.

Meet Rick DelValle, the founder of Hope House

Though it may feel like an all-consuming presence, fear is just a state of being. It is not a fact or reality that is unavoidable nor a larger-than-life entity that exists beyond your ability to navigate past it. We mustn’t grow attached to or detour around the fear we feel.

You must examine yourself to see if you fall into one of these four categories. Remember, doing a H.A.L.T. check-in will not solve all your issues. However, it will allow you to deal with any urges and cravings.

Think of this not as betrayal but as an affirmation of life – your life. You need to break free so that you can make your way in this new life that you have freely chosen. Recovery is about possibility, of change, of embarking on exciting journeys of discovery. For those in recovery, especially early recovery, starting over tends to take on the magnitude of the nearly impossible. There are just so many different areas of life that need changing, so much to do, and so much to learn before anything can be done.

While it is no secret that addiction recovery is a long and involved process, there is one step that can help begin that path to recovery—the act of letting go. When applying these prompts to your life in recovery, listen to how they resonate. Look for the echo of intentional connection in your new beginnings and the habits that support you as you move toward it. The bittersweet thing about beginnings is that they come from endings, and we aren’t always prepared to say goodbye. Your life will always be a complicated tapestry of the threads that end and begin anew.

Let’s share a few tips together to prepare yourself for the first steps of your new beginning. Individuals who are in recovery cannot allow themselves to become overwhelmed. By this, I mean not taking on too many tasks at one time.

Art Therapy for Connecting with a Higher Power

How can a reasonable and realistic course be charted, particularly when the past seems ever-present and constantly seeks to rob you of whatever small gains you may make? While there is no question that painful memories of the past can wreak havoc in recovery from alcohol or drugs (or compulsive gambling, sexual behavior, workaholism and so on). Every person who is new to recovery has some of this unwelcome baggage that is carried with them into sobriety. The question is, how can the past be left behind so that moving forward can begin? Perhaps even more pertinent to some is what to do when moving forward means leaving the past behind?

Not a Betrayal – an Affirmation of Life

This isn’t something that you can force another person to do, any more than others could force rehab on you. So, while there is an outside possibility that people from your past who continue to use will eventually go into treatment, you cannot sit around and wait for that day to come. Your job now is to work on your recovery, day in and day out, without fail. One of the emotions that well up when you think about walking away from the past is the powerful feeling of betrayal. The person may even call you out on your action, lashing out with anger and telling you that you betrayed your friendship or love. This retort will sting, undoubtedly, but that does not make it true.