Recovery Month – Day 13 – Wise Counsel

The only source of knowledge is experience.

— Albert Einstein —

September is National Recovery Month.

The focus of my blogs throughout the month of September will be on addiction and its life destroying tendencies. The writings derive from my own personal experiences of battling addiction and living a life of recovery.

These specific writings are focused on the ACT acronym.

ACT leads to sobriety…

A – Acknowledge you have a problem and you are powerless over it and you need help.

– Connect with a power greater than you and people who have solutions that will help you conquer your problem.

T – Take positive, recovery-oriented action every day.

From September 1 through the 7th, I wrote about the importance of Acknowledging there is a problem and the next several days I will be writing about the importance of Connect.


This is a continuation of yesterday’s post.


Last week my wife and I were in Siesta Key, Florida, enjoying some R & R. We arrived on Sunday and by Tuesday we began wondering if we should evacuate because of Hurricane Irma.

Luckily, I went to a local cafe for lunch on Tuesday and struck up a conversation with someone who had been on the Island of Siesta Key for a number of years. I asked him if we were safe to wait for our scheduled flight on Friday to leave Florida. He told me we would be just fine if we waited until then.

I trusted him because he had knowledge that was supported by experience (wisdom) and Lori and I had a wonderful vacation and were very fortunate to board a plane headed back to Ohio, on Friday at noon.


When battling addiction, there is no better resource to connect with than an addict who’s been through the hurricane of substance use disorder, survived, and is living a productive life in recovery.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, my brother decided to try and find someone in recovery who could help me. And he did just that. He found a young man who had been sober for five years and was more than happy to meet with me.

When we met, I felt a feeling of peace I hadn’t felt in a long time. Of course I had chemicals in my system, but the peace I felt was from another source. We had a connection and the connection derived from our struggles with addiction.

He shared his story with me and asked me to share mine with him. While sharing my story, he showed very little emotion and simply nodded his head, indicating to me he knew exactly where I was and had felt the same pain and anguish I was feeling.

The fact that he was nodding his head sober, gave me a glimmer of hope, and sometimes that’s all you need.

He helped me put a game plan together for my recovery, gave me the “Big Book” of Alcoholics Anonymous and suggested some key pages for me to read.

I recall going home that evening and getting so excited while reading the Big Book, that I popped a couple of pills and cracked open a few Bud Lights and read into the late hours of the night. That is how I handled all of my highs and lows at that point in my life.

My talk with this young man along with the “Big Book” readings made a small dent into my state of hopelessness.

More to follow tomorrow.


When you are confronted with a challenge or a problem, do you seek help?

If so, do you seek help from someone who is not just knowledgeable but experienced in handling the type of challenge you are facing?

The best way to get through something is by connecting with someone who’s gotten through the same something.

Proverbs 15:31, “Whoever heeds life-giving correction will be at home among the wise.”

P.E.A.C.E.

Jay@EagleLaunch.com

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