Recovery Month – Day 4 – Insanity

Insanity is doing things the same way over and over and over, and expecting different results.

— Unknown —

September is National Recovery Month.

My blogs will focus throughout September on addiction and its life-destroying tendencies. The writings derive from my experiences of battling addiction and living a life of recovery.

For the next few days, I will focus on the Acknowledge part of the acronym ACT.


ACT leads to sobriety…

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

– Connect with a power greater than you and people with solutions to help you conquer your problem.

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


Today’s blog continues yesterday’s (Sept. 3) post…

I lived with the insanity of addiction for several years.

I knew I had a problem and tried fixing it several times–MY WAY–and MY WAY never worked. I ” fix my problem MY WAY began in mid-1984 and continued until August 9, 1987. In the later stages of this timeline, I began to suffer from depression, anxiety, and paranoia.

Insanity had set in for good…at least that’s what I thought.


On August 9, 1987, I went to Greene Hall in Xenia, Ohio, to get help for my problem. My wife had organized an intervention to bring reality to me, hoping to get me to see how crazy (my words, not hers) I had become. Thankfully, the intervention worked.

A few days into my stay at Greene Hall, I began attending group therapy, and my counselor began chipping away at getting me to see how out of control my life had become.

A turning point in my recovery was when she had me take a written 1st Step. This means she had me write a history of my drug and alcohol use and the consequences associated with their service. She then had me share the 1st Step with her.

This exercise helped me to begin gaining clarity around how messed up and insane I had become. At that moment, it became clear that I had more than a problem; I was powerless (addicted), and my life was a mess.

At that moment, I had officially taken the entire 1st Step–We admitted we were powerless over our addiction, and our lives had become unmanageable–which is the most critical step in the recovery process.

A problem cannot be fixed if you don’t admit you have one.


Tomorrow I will write about why it took me so long to Acknowledge that I was powerless over my addiction and that my life had become unmanageable.

These writings are captured in my book, “Victory Over Opiates.” Click the title for more information.

Romans 7:15, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”

P.E.A.C.E.

Jay@EagleLaunch.com

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