My first sponsor used to describe ongoing recovery as roller skating uphill. There is no standstill point. If you stop pushing, stop moving forward, you start sliding downward. And the hard part, he said, was that the view looks the same. The same scenery, the wind in your hair, life goes on alright. And you don't really know you're moving backwards until you hit the bottom.
At this stage of the game, I don't really distinguish between what I do for recovery and what I do with the rest of my life. Recovery is life. The principles of the 12 Steps are principles to live by, whether I'm in a meeting or at work or at home with family.
Somehow by doing that, the passion and enthusiasm for working with others has remained strong. I do that because I love doing it, just like I do life because I love living.
The biggest threat, I think, to maintaining recovery, is to stop growing.