Congratulations gentlemen!
You may be thinking “Congratulations, you’ve got to be kidding; I have just finished a treatment program!”
Regardless of whether this is your 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 20th attempt at recovery, give yourself a break! And yes congratulations, be grateful for making one of the wisest choices of your existence. Yes, you DO have a choice and you CAN recover. You are not terminally unique and you have the capacity to be honest and change. You may be afraid, that’s okay! You have courage and will know this only after you do the things you are most afraid of doing. You CAN do this, just take the Action and the Courage will follow.
Whether you believe it or not, there is a Higher Power looking out for you.
This is obvious, you are here! Let me be clear, what you have done here is not the easier softer way. It separates the men from the boys.
When you look ahead to your continuing process of recovery and the 12 Steps before you, don’t get discouraged. Learn from those who went before you and remember that all of those who have recovered had to start at the beginning. None of us simply arrive.
We come in sick and are working towards getting well; we are not bad trying to get good and all of us are on a life long journey. One Day at a Time. If you really want to get well, your actions will speak louder than words and at the end of the day you will like the guy you see in the mirror.
When we quit rationalizing, justifying and blaming other people and circumstances for our addiction and past actions we cease to be victims and become FREE MEN. You have taken responsibility for yourself and your own recovery. My hat is off to you for that!
Oh and Gentlemen, don’t look for the loop holes in your programs, those same loop holes will inevitably close around your neck!
If you remain grateful and never forget where you come from, you don’t ever have to come back.
Remember how you felt sick and tired of being sick and tired when you came into Recovery. If you can remember this always, you will remain willing to change.
Finally, recovery is not always going to be easy but it is more than possible if you do the work. You know that. Gentlemen, we DO stay clean and sober and go on to live amazing, incredible lives. Stay connected to the house and to your mates in recovery, the bonds you create in recovery will stand the test of time.
If you stay on the path of recovery, regardless of what anyone says or does and DO NOT pick up a drink or drug, even at gunpoint, the promises of recovery WILL materialize for you.
You will be genuinely happy, peaceful, grateful, and above all clean and sober. Thousands of experiences have proven this to be true, regardless of who you are or where you come from.
Don’t give up and don’t run from yourself, you are not a terrible person! In Fact you are all amazing, incredible, talented and kind men.
You never have to be alone again, unless you choose to be.
I hope that you use your power of choice wisely. Congratulations.
Mr. Stacey Petersen R.S.W.
Executive Director
"In The Realm
of
Hungry Ghosts”
“We can be moved by the
tragedy of mass starvation on a far continent... But it takes a greater effort of emotional imagination to empathize with the addict. We readily feel for
a suffering child, but cannot see the child in the adult who, his soul fragmented and isolated, hustles for survival a few blocks away from where we shop or work”
Gabor Mate
