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The Addict Who Still Suffers

 Brothers and Sisters in Recovery 🙏 Yesterday was sobering — no pun intended. I learned that my very good friend’s stepbrother passed away from an overdose. It hit hard. Real hard. Because every one of us knows the truth deep down… this disease does not play fair. Addiction does not care about age, family, intelligence, kindness, or potential. It steals sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, and friends. It leaves empty chairs at dinner tables and broken hearts that never fully heal. And the hardest part? Most of us know that person could have been us. Some of us have overdosed and somehow made it back. Some of us woke up in hospital beds. Some of us were brought back with Narcan. Some of us buried friends we laughed with just weeks before. We’ve watched addiction turn beautiful souls into statistics. That reality should shake every recovering addict to the core. But here’s what I also know: recovery gives us a responsibility. We are not just staying clean for ourselves anymore. We ar...
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The Power of Loving Yourself

Brothers and Sisters in Recovery 🙏


Today feels like one of those days where I’m stuck in my own head. Sometimes that’s a dangerous neighborhood… and sometimes it’s exactly where the work needs to happen. Today, it led me to think about love—what it is, what it isn’t, and how it shows up in our lives.


Love gets talked about like it’s just a feeling. It’s not. Feelings come and go—love, real love, is something deeper. It’s a decision. It’s action. It’s discipline. And if we’re being honest, it’s something most of us didn’t really understand while we were out there living in our addiction.


We chased versions of love that were conditional, temporary, or self-serving. We looked for it in people, substances, approval, attention—anywhere but the one place it actually starts: within ourselves.


Loving yourself isn’t arrogance. It isn’t selfish. It’s survival.


It means forgiving yourself for the past without pretending it didn’t happen. It means looking in the mirror and accepting who you are today, while still pushing to become better tomorrow. It’s holding yourself accountable without tearing yourself down. It’s learning how to sit with yourself in silence and not needing to escape.


Self-love shows up in the choices you make when nobody’s watching. It’s going to a meeting when you don’t feel like it. It’s picking up the phone instead of isolating. It’s setting boundaries, even when it’s uncomfortable. It’s taking care of your body, your mind, and your spirit—not because you have to, but because you finally believe you’re worth it.


And here’s the truth—until you learn to love yourself, you’ll struggle to truly love anyone else. Because what we don’t have, we can’t give. If we’re empty, we offer emptiness. If we’re broken and ignoring it, we pass that brokenness along. But when we start to build something real inside ourselves, something honest and grounded, that’s when love becomes something we can actually share.


Love in recovery takes many forms. It’s the hand that reaches out to help another addict. It’s the tough conversation that someone didn’t want to have but needed to hear. It’s showing up consistently. It’s being present. It’s choosing growth over comfort.


And sometimes, love is simply staying clean today.


So if you’re in your head today like I am, don’t run from it. Sit with it. Learn from it. There’s something there worth understanding.


Take it one day at a time. Progress, not perfection. Easy does it, but do it. Keep coming back—it works if you work it, and you’re worth it.


With love and gratitude,

Gary G

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