What is recovery?
 

I was miserable before I started drinking as far as I can remember. What is there to recover? I'm not trying to be provocative, but the question is philosophical.

I'm sick while I'm drunk, but I'm sick in a more psychologically acute way when I'm not. Shouldn't there be a real cure to this sickness?

You have been self medicating with alcohol... simple as that! Get at the underlying problems as you begin sobriety and then you can get recovered... and then you'll know what there is to recover.

Perhaps you need some counseling or professional help? There is also a spiritual solution, AA... There is hope, but you have to make the first move!

"To recover from that hopeless stated of mind and body"

in it's simplest form

all good wishes whatis

to become who we where born to be

I have heard people use the term to explain they have recovered their life.. or I have heard a much simpler "recovered my sobriety".

Either works for me :)

To simply stop drinking is to be sober and still miserable. To be actively working on my recovery means to deal with the issues that made me drink in the first place. To learn how to be happy with myself and my place in the world. To love and accept myself and others. That's what recovery means to me.:)

Great question, and I think one that requires you to look at things a bit differently.

Alcoholism is so much more than a bad drinking problem. The drinking, in fact, is really just the symptom of a much deeper, more dangerous condition. In AA, we call this the spiritual malady that drives our self destructive behavior. It's a condition, as you point out, that's been with us as far back as we remember.

Think of it this way: alcohol treated that spiritual malady. It relieved us of that distress, restlessness, irritability. And we became hooked on it, because it gave us that comfort and ease. It treated our spiritual malady.

Try this:

Alcohol treats alcoholism.

But then it gives out on us, betrays us. Yet we stick with it, not unlike an abused spouse, because we are afraid of what life would be like without it. And because it still occasionally relieves that maddening sense that we are completely out of kilter with the world around us. It still promises to scratch our itch, even though it will leave us bloody and worse than ever.

Now take alcohol away. You are back to square one: an agonizing spiritual malady, now overlayed with the physical cravings for alcohol and all the anxiety and fears that were not processed while you were anesthetizing yourself. We are trembling, depressed, angry human beings.

Abstinence from alcohol does not treat this condition. It's merely a start. Days sober are fun to count, but if there is no real recovery going on, those days are usually numbered.

Recovery treats the spiritual malady that made your life miserable before you drank, while you drank, and after you quit. In Alcoholics Anonymous, recovery is a vital spiritual awakening via the 12 steps. And it relieves us of the desire to drink by restoring us to sanity.

What do we recover? An awakened spirit. And then, anything is possible.

I was miserable before I started drinking too Dan - that's probably a good deal of the reason why I started drinking.

But I had to first deal with my drinking before I could deal with my miserableness :)
D

Millions are recovering /recovered from applying the Steps of AA.

Perhaps you will pursue the Steps for your life.

Thank you for this. I've been thinking about your words all day.

Dan

Recovery, for me, is being able to be happy in life without having to use drugs and alcohol to escape.

The question is, how do we get there? The reason I drank for so long was that I liked the affects of alcohol. When I was young it meant being free and having the courage to do things I never had before. As I got older it helped me deal with a crappy day, crying kids, stressful work environment, and any other stress that came along.

Irritable, restlessness, and discontent was eliminated by alcohol. Sounds great right? The problem with me is I am an alcoholic. Which means that when I drink - a physical craving follows. When I have one drink I want another, then another, and so on. I am not capable of controlling my drinking once it enters my body. The Phenomenon of Craving

I then came to the point where I said, "That's it, I can't drink". The problem was that since I wasn't "in recovery" I was MISERABLE when I wasn't drinking. All of the stresses of life were being felt and absorbed without any solution. MY solution (alcohol) was no longer an option. This void left me absolutely miserable. And after a few days, or a week, or a few weeks my willpower gave way to the mental obsession of the first drink.

If I agree I am an alcoholic, and I can not drink normally, that's just half the battle. I must find a way to not take the first drink (which will trigger the allergy / craving).

THAT IS WHERE RECOVERY COMES IN.

I must find a way to live that will allow me to be happy and deal with all of the emotions that accompanies our lives. Kids, Wives, Friends, Finances, Parents, etc... all can be tremendous stresses on us. We must find a way to deal with these things and still be happy.

For me, that is where the 12 steps of AA come in. It allows me to look at who I am and what I've done. It allows me to make good on my wrongs and move forward from there. It allows me to take personal daily inventory of myself and when wrong admit / deal with it right away as opposed to letting it build. And finally, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, it allows me to invite a power greater than myself -of my own understanding - to come into my life and help me with these things.

Without recovery and without booze I would be miserable. With recovery, I don't need the alcohol and my life can be more fufilling than I ever dreamed.

Hope this helps...

Recovery for me is not running to drugs to calm me down, find peace, to hide from myself. I had a rough life and using helped me not deal with all that pain. All it was doing was helping me slowly kill myself. I'm now learning to deal with my past without using. I live for today and today only.

Recovery for me is a chance to make myself happy and healthier.

Good post and lots of good input here. Thx.

You're just experiencing the same thing we've all been through. Can't live with alcohol, can't live without it. But as everyone said, albeit indirectly, the problem isn't alcohol. It's you. By abstaining from alcohol you have the opportunity to change your character, but it doesn't happen automatically. You have to work at it. Just merely abstaining from drinking will never change anything. You'll always be the same miserable, unhappy person you always were.

Most comments have recommended you try AA, based on their personal experience. I recommend it, too.It worked for me. Go to a bunch of different meetings and check it out. See if you think it'll work for you. If you decide against it, no harm done. There are other programs out there. You should be able to find one that appeals to you.

My "recovery" is fixing my spirit. I'm recovering from the spiritual malady from which I suffered that manifested itself in the form of alcoholism. I'm recovering (and in fact discovering) the life that was always there for me, but which I could not have because I was too busy doing other stuff; being selfish, lying, stealing, cheating, judging, complaining, shirking my responsibilities, drinking till I passed out, missing work...It's a pretty long list.

Once I started working on getting my spirit right, those other things began to go away.

It's funny...The day after my last arrest I had the Moment of Clarity, Epiphany, Divine Intervention (this is my belief), whatever you want to call it, and that led me into the rooms of AA. Of course, AA led me to the Big Book and my Higher Power.

I struggled with the Higher Power thing for a little bit, until I realized my Higher Power was God. So I went from the Big Book to the Bible. And by living each day according to the Bible and God's words, I'm kind of covering all of my AA bases.

Step 1 - Definitely had an unmanageable life.
Step 2 - Power greater than myself? My God is the greatest power there is.
Step 3 - Definitely have turned my life over to God as I understand Him.
Step 4 - The Bible teaches me to constantly take inventory of my wrongdoings.
Step 5 - Confession to God is a major tenet of many religions, including mine.
Step 6 - Definitely glad God is there to remove my defects of character (or forgive my sins).
Step 7 - I ask God every night to forgive me of my sins of that day.
Steps 8 and 9 - The Bible teaches us to ask forgiveness from and repay those whom we have wronged.
Step 10 - The Bible teaches me to ask forgiveness as soon as I have sinned.
Step 11 - The Bible teaches that we should place all faith in God and live our lives in a way that we seek to do His will rather than our own.
Step 12 - The Bible tells me to carry the message of my spiritual awakening (when God came into my life) by words as well as actions to not only all alcoholics, but indeed to all people and every end of the Earth.

Once again, I'm trying to fix my spirit, which had been broken for a long time. I'm recovering for a spiritual malady, and the greatest cure for that, for me, is God. By trying to live my life in accordance to the teachings of His word, I'm also living out the AA program on a daily basis.

I wanted to thank reggiewayne for that link it was truly informative. Its funny I've been around a few 24 hrs and everytime i think I know something I read an article that blows me away. Keep the Faith