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.
For the past seven days I’ve focused on the Acknowledge stage of the ACT recovery acronym. Today I will begin writing about the Connect stage.
ACT leads to sobriety…
A – Acknowledge you have a problem and you are powerless over it and you need help.
C – 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.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I’ve been acknowledging my addiction problem every morning for the past 10,988 days.
One of the primary reasons I’ve never failed to acknowledge my problem and turn it over to God, is because I was instructed to do this many years ago by people in recovery who were living strong and fruitful lives…I wanted what they had.
Addiction cannot be whipped alone, it takes help and the longer I live, the more I realize the importance of connecting to and listening to wise counsel.
I’m so grateful for all of the wise people God has placed on my recovery journey.
I’m especially grateful for their patience…
A few months prior to going to treatment for my addiction problem, I went to see a psychologist. The craziness of my addiction was starting to get to me and I knew I needed help. When I set up my first appointment, I was convinced I was simply crazy and used the drugs to help me handle the craziness.
After the first meeting, my psychologist (Bob) told me I needed to get help for my alcohol and drug problem and I told him he was wrong. I went on to tell him that I simply needed help in handling life.
My life was a bit crazy and the alcohol and drugs took the edge off. He countered with one of the most impactful statements in my road to recovery when he said, “Jay, you alcoholics and addicts are all alike, you’d much rather admit you were crazy than admit you were an alcoholic or an addict.”
I continued to see Dr. Bob for another two months in hopes of proving him wrong…
More about Connect tomorrow.
Proverbs 15:22, “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.”
Proverbs 28:26, “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.”
P.E.A.C.E.
Jay@EagleLaunch.com
