Comments on: The Plateau, Part 2 http://authenticity.today.com/2009/01/08/the-plateau-part-2/ ..not for the faint of heart... Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:21:21 +0000 http://www.today.com/version-2.3.1 By: recoveryrocks http://authenticity.today.com/2009/01/08/the-plateau-part-2/#comment-8 recoveryrocks Sat, 10 Jan 2009 09:53:45 +0000 http://authenticity.today.com/2009/01/08/the-plateau-part-2/#comment-8 Your words ring true and remind me "My level of serenity is inversely proportional to my expectations." When I looked life in the face clean, sober, and abstinent, there was extreme polarity between the magical thinking of how I had perceived recovery would be if I ever got there, and how fucked up my life really was. I understand the symbolism of the big black Suburban. Mine was a piece of paper. Counseling credentials. I wanted to be a counselor and save mankind just like 99% of the other newly recovered people i knew.(In my case I was most effective one man at a time.:) I went to college, worked hard, and I got it. But it wasn't enough. Next, I had to be the supervisor, then a program director, then on the right boards, always struggling to get good enough, yet no matter what I accomplished, it didn't fix me. I came to the realization, on a visceral level, that recovery- real recovery, is not about going to meetings and not taking a drink or a drug- is about how I walk the talk between meetings. It's an inside job. Let me know when you write more. I look forward to disagreeing with you. Steel sharpens steel. Roxie http://recoveryrocks.today.com/ Your words ring true and remind me “My level of serenity is inversely proportional to my expectations.”

When I looked life in the face clean, sober, and abstinent, there was extreme polarity between the magical thinking of how I had perceived recovery would be if I ever got there, and how fucked up my life really was.

I understand the symbolism of the big black Suburban. Mine was a piece of paper.

Counseling credentials.

I wanted to be a counselor and save mankind just like 99% of the other newly recovered people i knew.(In my case I was most effective one man at a time.:)

I went to college, worked hard, and I got it. But it wasn’t enough. Next, I had to be the supervisor, then a program director, then on the right boards, always struggling to get good enough, yet no matter what I accomplished, it didn’t fix me.

I came to the realization, on a visceral level, that recovery- real recovery, is not about going to meetings and not taking a drink or a drug- is about how I walk the talk between meetings. It’s an inside job.

Let me know when you write more. I look forward to disagreeing with you.

Steel sharpens steel.

Roxie
http://recoveryrocks.today.com/

]]> By: jenwhitten http://authenticity.today.com/2009/01/08/the-plateau-part-2/#comment-7 jenwhitten Fri, 09 Jan 2009 12:13:46 +0000 http://authenticity.today.com/2009/01/08/the-plateau-part-2/#comment-7 So when you say that having that truck would mean you've arrived, you really mean that it was say you've arrived at that place where people have more money than sense, right? :P Anyway, it's interesting you write about having missed the point of recovery because tonight hubby and I were discussing how it (life in general) isn't about where you start or where you end, but about the journey, those seemingly infinite single points in time that make up the whole of our existence... It occurs to me that this same philosophy can be applied to recovery. I mean, if you think about it, the beginning of the story doesn't matter; you have to just accept the past was what it was and acknowledge how it's shaped you to be the person you are now. And really it doesn't matter how things end up because there isn't an end, not with recovery. You don't get to wake up one day and say, "Gee...I think today's the day I'm not an addict anymore." So the only ending would be death, but, well...you're dead so...yeah. It is the journey from beginning to end that makes life worth living. All those little moments of life are where the finest moments of recovery occur. It's in the midst of the journey we suddenly realize at some point we found grace. :) So when you say that having that truck would mean you’ve arrived, you really mean that it was say you’ve arrived at that place where people have more money than sense, right? :P

Anyway, it’s interesting you write about having missed the point of recovery because tonight hubby and I were discussing how it (life in general) isn’t about where you start or where you end, but about the journey, those seemingly infinite single points in time that make up the whole of our existence…

It occurs to me that this same philosophy can be applied to recovery. I mean, if you think about it, the beginning of the story doesn’t matter; you have to just accept the past was what it was and acknowledge how it’s shaped you to be the person you are now. And really it doesn’t matter how things end up because there isn’t an end, not with recovery. You don’t get to wake up one day and say, “Gee…I think today’s the day I’m not an addict anymore.” So the only ending would be death, but, well…you’re dead so…yeah.

It is the journey from beginning to end that makes life worth living. All those little moments of life are where the finest moments of recovery occur. It’s in the midst of the journey we suddenly realize at some point we found grace. :)

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