Robert is the Recovery Guy. Getting clean and sober on April 25, 1986 has given me the insight and practical skill set to not only stay sober, but to also re-invent myself to the person I always wanted to become. Showing others how to do this is my life goal.
It is not that I invite or necessarily look forward to the dark swirl in my life. What I do know is that negative things happen in the cycle of one’s life. As much as I don’t invite it I recognize it as being a necessary component in living. So often I learn my greatest lessons when something occurs that I either don’t agree with or an event that would cause me pain.
Living, interacting and being accountable to these 5 relationships everyday helps give me the direction I need and want. They also serve to give me the personal fulfillment of things I want done for me, but more importantly what I can do for others.
Where are you at in your Search for the Lost Chord? Are you like the happy wanderer that feels if you find it, you find it? Or are you like so many of us that if you don’t find it you will disappear into further darkness or death?
As I went further down this path of being true, I realized, despite who I had become, being true to who I was and who I could be was my new true. The reality was I was never anything even though it felt that way.
I understood how neglecting my body can cause such great present and even future damage. The emotional dimension is often based on who I see in the mirror. If who I am seeing is an unhealthy person it is very likely I will have a negative emotional response.
Before you and I came to recovery, it was not often or regular that we had reason to celebrate. Even when we did, it was usually short lived. After that, the reality of the direction our addiction was taking us brought us back to earth.
When we walk in this light and freedom we become convinced that going back is never an option.
This approach is, what I call, The Exchange Theory of Recovery. In this Great Exchange, what we are doing is understanding the need to remove negative past thoughts, experiences or people by exchanging them with something/someone more in line with the positive path we are choosing.
Once we have addressed and overcome the depression we should continue to use the tools that got us to our new healthy position. We should safeguard ourselves from returning to that negative mindset by self-monitoring.
When we accept our need to become well and want to incorporate the Steps to Change we will grow and become the best possible version of ourselves.
And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, or situation – some fact of my life – unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment
We must learn to become grateful or our chance of true long-lasting sobriety will likely not come to us. We need simply to learn to be grateful for the little things and move toward more significant things. As we grow in our recovery then we can begin to appreciate the bigger things as they come to us.