May 1, 2014
It happens in every person’s recovery if they stick around long enough: the recovery doldrums.
“No human power can relieve us of our alcoholism”…So why do we think we have the answers?
Simple: because we are sick. We have this twisted notion that we should have all this whole alcoholism and addiction thing worked out, all the while forgetting that we never had the answer. We simply did what was suggested, and it worked out.
We have not been cured. There was no brilliant stroke of genius on our part, other than seeing the irrefutable truth that the lives we had prior to our disease now laid before us in smoldering ruins once we got our hands on them.
So how were we supposed to keep that from happening again? Again, the answer is simple: we were not. God was.
God was, has, and is managing the insanity we bring to the table, and which proved to be too much for us. Every so often, though, that thought still creeps in; “Thanks God, but I got it from here.” And, being the loving father He is, He allows us to absolutely wreck all the patient, hard work he has put into rebuilding our lives.
Instead of trying to manage the unmanageable, there are a few things we can do.
Sometimes, it is that feeling of things being too familiar. There is nothing wrong with things being familiar, but part of the spice of life is experiencing all there is. Ask any kid who has eaten too much candy on Halloween if there can be too much of a good thing…
Trying new meetings is a good start because it will do one of two things: give you a new meeting that can help reinvigorate your recovery, or it will make you grateful for the meetings you already attend.
That might sound a bit backhanded, but there is a good reason different meetings appeal to different groups and personalities.
Of course, the whole purpose behind meetings is to find new people to work with. Recovery does not come from meetings; it comes from one addict or alcoholic working with another with the common goal of staying clean and sober. Meetings, as originally intended, are nothing more than a means to that end.
Of course, the actual application of that has changed a lot. Now, meetings tend to be the focal point of the Fellowship.
If your relationships and the ties to people in meetings you have long attended are falling apart, despite trying to mend them, perhaps it is time to look elsewhere. After all, doing something because that is always how it has been done would have put us in the grave a long time ago.
A good rule of thumb: if you are ever in a funk, talk to a newcomer, and things will almost always start looking brighter.
What do you do when you get in the recovery doldrums? Let us know in the comments below!
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