Northwoods Recovery

That is the cold reality I and others like me live with and must face up to each day. And to emphasize the point, repeat out loud before friends at every Northwoods Recovery meeting.

But simply stating “I’m a drug addict” doesn’t tell the whole story, because I’m a drug addict in recovery, and have been recovering from addiction for some good years now. The nasty connotations presented by the appellation “drug addict” are largely mitigated by the cachet of recovery. 

But recovery doesn’t merely provide a one-size-fits-all fig leaf. Its underlying purpose is revealed through honest application to daily living. 

When beginning this recovery, without giving it much thought I’d assumed that practicing sobriety would somehow parallel my long struggle with substance abuse; a never-ending series of near-crisis challenges and never any easy solutions. But through a process similar to osmosis, a profoundly deeper understanding emerged. Sobriety isn’t the burdening duty self-imposed to begin making amends for the damage my former misbehavior caused, but rather a heaven-sent miracle, a priceless gift freeing me to do all that I’d denied myself with substance use; chief among those, unfettered honesty in my personal interactions with everyone- especially including myself. 

Addiction and truth-telling are perfect strangers, so never are co-existent. Even when deep in the depths of dependency, I could never bring myself to admit to the obvious truth of the matter; not to significant others, not to friends, certainly never to myself. Every day was another lie told in service to my addiction, smothering me in dishonesty until the first time I spoke up at a recovery meeting and identified with the overpowering truth: “I’m Jeff and I’m a drug addict.”

I could finally draw an honest breath. My self-empowerment had begun, commencing with the power of living honesty. 

In a metaphorical sense, one could easily think that in recovering from addiction, honesty becomes a higher power. Enabled to live in transparency as I now am encourages the pursuit of real purpose in my recovery, empowering me to honestly share the inspirational story of my transition from addiction to sobriety; a message of hope for newly recovering addicts and families of those struggling to escape addiction’s trap.

After addiction’s endless trail of falsehoods, following the pathway of activated honesty inspires more of the same, serving to demonstrate that self-honesty is the only way.

We Do Recover.