Recovery can become less exciting after many years of going to 12-Step meetings, sponsoring newly recovering people, and working through personal issues. The meetings for 12-Step recovery may begin to blend into one long, ongoing drama that doesn't appeal so much after twenty years or more. The truth is, after long-term sober recovery, members tend to become complacent. It begins with life becoming busier than it used to be. Families and employment, as well as homes and bank accounts, have likely become stable. The incentives that made early recovery desperately necessary are no longer part of daily life.

What Is Left to Recover From?

Even after many years in 12-Steps, there is a great deal many more things to recover from. For many people, there are deep-rooted issues in relationships that still require maintenance and healing. A long process of recovery has been underway for a while, but there will be new issues for long-timers to work through. As people age, health and end-of-life issues arise. There may be children moving out of the home and on with their lives, marriages, and grandchildren. These become the rewards of a successful, happy, and productive family life, something that was usually threatened by the substance use that is no longer occurring.

Injecting "Freshness" into Your Long-term Recovery

Freshness can be found in the 12-Step meetings, as new members continue to appear. There is also work to be done in helping others find and enjoy recovery. Addiction doesn't retire, nor does it stop. New members arrive daily at sober recovery meetings and addiction treatment centers around the world. There is always service work to be done. While many feel that newer members need to perform the service work that is important in the early years of recovery, there is still room for leadership by those with a history in recovery.

Workshops and retreats are beneficial to renewing the spiritual wonder and gratitude that permeate early recovery. The sense of "been there, done that" can be removed with a fresh outlook on old ideas and feelings. Sometimes the most seasoned veterans of recovery can be the most surprised by how much they had forgotten when they participate in these events. A common response is, "Wow! I had slipped away from this stuff! I am so glad to be back on track."

Even People in Long-term Recovery Can Relapse

Life never stands still. Long-timers will still have to live in accordance with universal laws that may conflict with what they believe and what they would like to have in their lives. Death, divorce, tragic accidents, and relapse are still a big part of life, no matter how many meetings attended, no matter how many sponsees are guided through the 12-Steps, and no matter how many service commitments a person has completed.

Birth, marriage, and celebrating a successful, happy life can be as disarming as sad events. The stress of busy life can be as dangerous to recovery at twenty-five or thirty years as it was in the first months of recovery. There is ample evidence that no one is exempt from relapse. Renewal events remove the emotional imbalance that is occurring or the complacency that is set in.

Knowledge, while a powerful resource in many situations, will not serve here. It takes devotion to recovery to stay on the path, moving forward into a future of constant unknowns.

Help is Available

If you or someone close to you is battling addiction, please visit our directory of treatment centers or call 800-772-8219 to speak with a treatment specialist.