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7163794 tn?1457366813

What are you doing for your recovery?

So, it seems pretty dead around here....that can be good and that can be bad?   I wanted to try and get the conversation of recovery going so I thought I'd post it as a question.  
It's Mardi Gras time here where I live and I must say, temptation is everywhere.  I think what I find the funniest is before I got clean, I would've never been invited to so many parties and get togethers because I was a total ******* to be around loaded.  Now that I'm clean, I'm being invited all over the place and I'm a little afraid to go...IRONY....
So every day, for my recovery, I set a daily intention.  Something that I strive to keep aware of for the day (hoping to eventually make it a habit) like patience, gratitude, empathy, etc....Things that I know I need to work on.  I still attend meetings 3/4 times a week, I chair local meetings, I now sponser people (which I don't think I like but that's a whole other rant!) I work my steps and I try REALLY HARD to think before I speak or act.  I stay away from using friends and usually, hang out with other addicts.  I have managed to join quite a little N/A family in my area and have built up a phone list of friends to call if I need them.  And I'm available if they need me.  I think about my recovery every single day....because now I can actually think....
Just a great big hug to all of you out there doing the daily grind..............CLEAN.....We are bad ***!!!!  
5 Responses
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Avatar universal
HEY Y'ALL! This place has gotten strange with the format! Today for MY recovery I go to meetings, I have women in church and in recovery that I love and that have loved me back to life. I attempt to sponsor... I worked/work the steps. I am learning to have a relationship with God. Service work inside and outside my fellowship and within my community. Prayer. Worked a 5th step..first time ever.. set boundaries and TRY to stick with them!
and as long as I am spiritually fit I have no issues hanging out with family or friends who drink (THATS JUST ME AND I ALWAYS HAVE AN EXIT PLAN)
I also hang out at a local rehab and recovery house talking to new women and ladies trying to get into detox. Mostly because I am bored lol
if I keep this up Match 20 I will have one year clean and sober
Helpful - 0
11318065 tn?1462984479
Love this post!  I admit I haven't been on here in a really long time...  I still miss the "old" site...but life goes on!

I go to at least one meeting a day still...some in person some online...  I go to AA and NA and started SLAA a few months ago!  I decided it was time to date again (has been years) and I realized that I didn't know how to do it!  Always sabotaged my relationships in the past.  Have been finding out lots of stuff about me since starting the SLAA.... so we shall see how the dating goes!!  :)  

Working the steps and prayer and meditation are the 3 most important things in my life now!  They are what keep me grounded and somewhat sane!!

I sponsor one person and I too am not sure it is my "calling" but I am doing it and most times enjoy it.

I have a handful of people I trust and turn to.  A few are social drinkers and the others don't drink at all.  None are drug users.  I have a few folks in meetings that I call also.

Have been busy at work.  I do Grief and Loss counseling and I find the most joy in that.  Sounds weird to find joy in that but it is my "calling" and being able to help someone in their despair is what I consider my "service" as far as 12 step.

Thank you so much for the post!  It is good to read all of you!

Be Well!

Karen
Helpful - 0
1796826 tn?1578874779
It's a shame what they did to this site, there used to be conversations like this all the time. I know DS, Vicky and Gnarly do all they can, but they can't help it that the site's owners decided to make it impossible to browse. I wonder how many addicts DIDN'T get help because this site isn't what it used to be.

I am going on five years clean from opioids. My DoC was hydrocodone and I took a LOT of in the final years of my addiction. I was open to, and tried, many different support modalities for recovery at first. AA/NA, group and individual therapy. I found that I disagreed with most of them on a philosophical level. As I got my feet under me, I felt more comfortable going it alone, which is what I did.

I basically look at "recovery" like I look at diets: They don't work because they contain a fundamental flaw in reasoning. If you're on a "diet" that means that it's a variation on how you normally eat. Chances are really good that at some point, you're going to go back to how you normally eat. It's hard to sustain a variation for long.

Instead, I look at how I normally eat and focus on changing that instead. It goes to the core of how I am living my life. Same thing with not taking opioids. I am not "in recovery" because for me, that assumes that there's some other option about how I live that includes taking opioids. As far as I'm concerned, there isn't. If I want to lose 10 pounds in a week, sure a diet is great for that. But I know (and data supports the idea) that I'm going to gain this weight back as soon as I stop dieting.

Swimming became my new addiction. It became core to my life and something I still do religiously. I take any anger and negativity I feel into the pool and after an hour and 3000 yards, it's gone and I am high as a kite. Getting into great shape has opened up other doors I had forgotten about as well. Skiing and cycling are also things I do regularly now. You couldn't pay me enough to go back to being an addict. I am always aware of and on guard for the chemical/psychological part of it. I cannot take opioids of any kind ever again without risking a fall right back into the pit. I think a big reason I come back here is to remind myself of that. Addiction is easy to get into and hard to get out of.
Helpful - 0
5986700 tn?1380791380
Hey there MH peeps, haven't been for awhile....still opiate clean....1280 something days I think.  What have I been doing for recovery.......err....holding recovery.  I don't go to meetings.  I don't drive. I guess I would try to go to one if I had my own transportation.  As I live in the country...and I mean country....unless there's a meeting in the sheep's stable ..... I'm not finding one.  But....I do do lots of other things....

I changed up the diet completely.  Drastically.  I cannot have sugar or processed foods stuffs...lol....not saying I don't cheat once in a while cuz I do.  But I always pay for it....what's that got to do with my recovery you say???? Lol. Well....

Turns out sugar makes me sick .....in my head....crazy anxiety and depression which I have been running from my whole effing life...  

Also, I meditate (probably could use this more than once a day) ....I change my thoughts as best I can when I notice things (nuts and bolts) getting loose.  Positive, humble and grateful tude.  

Exercise and keeping busy and tiring your body out for optimum sleep......key, but really hard if you're dragging your depressed buttt already....just push through.  

Finding laughter in everything....if it's not funny at the moment, come back in a half an hour and look at it again.  

Helping others, even if it's only an ear that you can offer.  So many people have it so worse off than I(you) do, put myself in their position and say thank you for what challenges I have.



Glad to see you two chickie are doing so well.  Bless and spider hugs. ((((8)))) xo
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Girl, I just adore you!! It's deader than roadkill around here, so yes, good idea to bring this up. People are probably reading even if they aren't posting.

My recovery is very similar to yours: I go to 4 to 5 meetings a week.I have commitments at several and consider 3 of them my home groups.  I'm in AA  (here in LA) because there are meetings round the clock here even though I'm a raging opiate head and never really had a problem w/ alcohol. I'm working the steps, even though most of the time I hem and haw and don't want to do anything. If I don't see the immediate benefit, I don't want to do it. But I do it anyway, because I need to improve my life and can't do it on my own.

Similarly, I hang out almost exclusively w/ my clean fellows. And occasionally it's still a tad weird going to movie night w/o being high on norco even at more than 2 years and 8 months clean. But it's great, and I get over it quickly. Besides, now I don't have to rewatch movies! It's amazing what you don't absorb when you're high...te he.

I think about my recovery every single dang day, too. Whether I want to or not. It's just there like a big neon sign. Anywho, good for you, girl, so glad you posted. Put on those Mardi gras pearls and be glad you aren't one of those idiots who won't even remember the parade!:)
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