Recovery is anything that we do to help improve our physical, mental, or emotional health. This could include but is not limited to walking, maintaining a healthy diet, taking vitamins, getting more sleep, social interactions, group counseling, cardio, yoga, taking breaks, reading, volunteering, community involvement, yard work, individual counseling, medication, self-help meetings, 12 step meetings, daily meditations, church or religious involvement, self-awareness, stretching, laughing, making new friends, self-talk, positive affirmations, sponsorship, speaking commitments, cooking, playing with kids, coaching, talking, smiling, hiking, biking, etc.
When we think about trying something new, it's exciting and scary at the same time, but if we feel that it will add value to our lives we embrace it. Engaging in activities that improve our sense of well being, our mood, our outlook on life, and our relationships leads to hope, optimism, and empowerment. We can make changes in our lives in order to live healthier, balance our lives more productively, and to live more mindfully. We can also make changes in order to heal or gain strength from an illness, loss, or disability. We as a society need to start embracing recovery regardless of the cause that led the person to seek a change. We are uncomfortable with suffering, pain, illness, death and we avoid sitting with these feelings and try to start the healing process too soon. We also begin to associate disease, loss, limitations with negative connotations and judgment including weakness, disgust, superiority. This stigma prevents people from reaching out for help, seeking treatment, and taking care of themselves. This happens when a person does not want to perceive themselves as weak, helpless, or inferior and they suffer in silence instead of giving themselves the opportunity to experience the positivity that will eventually come with recovery. Our perspective of this person also begins to change and we end up defining them based on their illness instead of the person they are. When a person is struggling with or recovering from cancer, psychiatric illness, obesity, addiction, postpartum, grief and loss, trauma, a separation or divorce, job loss, or any infliction, there can be feelings of anger, sadness, guilt, frustration, shame, disgust, fear, grief all intertwined to cause crippling pain for the person and their loved ones. Empathizing with what the person might be going through is much more supportive and validating than offering your sympathy. Noticing and reminding the person of their strengths and resiliencies will not only give them hope, but will also remind us that they are a person first. This person is suffering from.....This person is struggling with.....This person is affected by.... Lastly, learning to sit with one's pain, although uncomfortable is a teaching moment. It teaches us to accept the realistic fate that life is unfair and that we will all encounter pain throughout our lives, but by enduring it, by allowing it to soak in and consume us momentarily, it will allow us to heal naturally. We will be able to see with physical illness comes emotional strength, from emotional suffering comes hope, from mental exhaustion comes peace. Through acceptance and surrendering to life as it is, it will free us from negativity and allow us to let go of the judgment of others which in turn will permit us to stop judging ourselves. When we feel most comfortable with ourselves regardless of the situation, that defines character worth building upon and there is no weakness in that. Recovery is embracing pain so that the healing process can begin. Recovery is a new beginning. Recovery is a promise to one's self that it's never too late to take a different path. Recovery is empowerment. Recovery is light in a world of darkness.
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Authorfinding greatness in the unimaginable.empowering others.addiction advocate.living simply, contently, passionately. Archives
April 2016
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