March 15, 2022 7:42 PM EDT
Question time, I’m doing some reasearch (always seeking answers to life’s mysterious questions).
Mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically. 4 areas of our life that we need to address in recovery. 4 foundations to build on if we want to build a better life, correct? And also the community’s impact on a successful recovery.
1. Mentally we need to work on healing our minds, thoughts, behaviors, actions. Building self-confidence, self-esteem, we start fixing our destructive patterns from the inside. A real personal self-help approach to learning what we are missing in our thinking process and what we need to work on to improving. Take a class, finish your education. Vocational rehab can be a major help in this area.
2. Emotionally. Learning to love ourselves again. We can’t love others until we learn to love ourselves. Took me a minute to understand the importance of dealing with emotions and to be honest I’m still a work in progress (ask my boo lol) when we learn to balance emotions to real life events ie stressors, then we learn to take ourselves off autopilot, we learn to think without first reacting. Very helpful in early recovery. When we learn to value relationships instead of doing everything for instant gratification or ourselves then we learn compassion, empathy. We know where we’ve been, it’s not a good place, let’s focus more on improving our quality of life and watch how it changes us.
3. Spiritually. Soul maintenance. Another tough area where we struggled in our ‘past life.’ Hard to care about saving our souls when we were struggling on the streets, our focus was on anything that we could use in the moment, not in the hereafter. Today we start learning about the power of being spiritually lit. And the inner fortitude and serenity that it grants us. Our journey is a recovery pilgrimage to find ourself in this life. Our beliefs today may change tomorrow, but that’s ok.
4. Physically. One of the things that we overlook in the rebuilding our life. I’m guilty myself, but it’s a goal for this year. We don’t have to go all decathlon but some type of regular exercise will help strengthen our recovery in ways that will have a impact on our continued success.
5. Community. Fellowship. Adjusting back to society, building new friendships that will support our continued growth in a positive way. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in rebuilding ‘us’ that we lose the community connection and therefore the positive reinforcement that it can give. Service to others can be a rewarding experience that will continue to pay dividends on our own journeys.
I’m curious to what you think, did I miss something that should be added? Our journeys are unique to each one of us, but we all share similar journeys, we are brothers and sisters on a pilgrimage to find our true self.
