Skip to main content

Different Path to Recovery

 Brothers and Sisters in Recovery 🙏 I’ve been doing some thinking about my recovery program and I’ve decided it’s time for me to change things up a little. I love Narcotics Anonymous, and I’m grateful for everything NA has given me. But lately, I’ve felt like my recovery has become a little stale. I’m still committed to recovery, but I believe sometimes we have to be willing to step outside of our comfort zone and look at different ways of strengthening our program. Because of that, I’ve been looking into Recovery Dharma as an alternative or something I can add to what I’m already doing. I’m interested in learning something new, gaining a different perspective, and finding practices that help me continue growing spiritually and emotionally. I’ve learned that recovery isn’t a one-size-fits-all journey. What works for one person may not work for another, and that’s okay. The important thing is that we keep moving forward and remain willing to do whatever is necessary to stay clean, ...
1 comment

Acceptance and Honesty

 

Brothers and Sisters in Recovery 🙏

Coming back from a relapse means I have to work the First Step all over again. Two things stand out to me more than anything right now: acceptance and honesty.

Acceptance comes in many forms. For me, the first thing I have to accept is that I am an addict. Somewhere along the way, I lost sight of that. I became complacent. I convinced myself that I was okay, and eventually, I used.

But the truth is simple: one is too many, and a thousand is never enough.

That is why honesty has to become the foundation of my recovery again. I have to stop lying to myself. I have to stop telling the people who love me that I'm okay when I'm not. One lie can turn into two, then three, then four, until eventually we're lying about everything and living a life built on deception.

I have to remember that I am powerless over my addiction and that my life becomes unmanageable when I try to run the show myself. My relapse showed me just how far I can fall when I stop working my program and start believing my own excuses.

So today, I'm doubling down.

I need a rigorous application of the program, not just a casual relationship with recovery. I need to wake up with intention. I need to lead with honesty. I need to stay connected, reach out when I'm struggling, listen to people who have walked this road before me, and do the things I know keep me clean.

Coming home from treatment has been an adjustment. Today I feel a little out of sorts, and that's okay. I don't have to have everything figured out today. I just have to stay clean today and take the next right step.

I'm learning to appreciate the small moments—the quiet moments, the people who love me, the simple things I used to take for granted. And perhaps most importantly, I'm learning that I have to love myself enough to believe that I am worth saving.

When the people who love me tell me they love me, I need to let those words sink in. When they tell me I have value, I need to believe them. Because I do have value. I am worth it. And my mistakes do not have to define the rest of my story.

A relapse doesn't have to be the end of recovery. It can be the moment we stop running, get honest, surrender again, and start rebuilding.

So today I choose recovery.
Today I choose honesty.
Today I choose acceptance.
Today I choose to stay teachable.
Today I choose to reach out instead of isolate.
And today, just for today, I choose not to use.

One day at a time.
Keep it simple.
Let go and let God.
Easy does it.
Just for today.
Keep coming back—it works if you work it.

With love and gratitude,
Gary G

Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 11, 2026 at 9:51 AM

    I am grateful you stayed!! I been in the complacency department and me too, I had to do things different. FYI. I knew you wasn't okay. I love you and Wifee! Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. 777BILLIE777September 11, 2026 at 11:55 AM

    Gary, what touched me most was your willingness to look at your relapse with honesty without allowing it to define the rest of your story. That line about learning to love yourself enough to believe you are worth saving really stayed with me. You ARE worth it. Thank you for sharing the difficult parts as well as the hopeful ones. One day, one hour, one minute, one breath at a time. ❤️

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Self-Sabotage in Recovery

Brothers and Sisters in Recovery 🙏 One of the biggest dangers in both active addiction and recovery is self-sabotage. A lot of us think relapse happens only when life gets bad. But the truth is, for many addicts, relapse can also happen when life starts getting good. Why? Because our brains became conditioned to chaos, pain, destruction, and survival mode. In active addiction, we trained ourselves—over and over again—to live in dysfunction. We got used to crisis. We got used to shame. We got used to tearing things down before life could tear them down for us. That is why self-sabotage is so common in recovery. When things finally begin to improve—when relationships heal, when peace shows up, when hope returns, when bills are getting paid, when we begin feeling proud of ourselves—that unfamiliar peace can actually feel threatening. To a brain that spent years wired for destruction, stability can feel uncomfortable. Safety can feel suspicious. Joy can feel foreign. That old addict...
4 comments
Read more

The Struggle is Real

Brothers and Sisters in Recovery 🙏 I just want to say how grateful I am for life today. It has been a struggle, and I’ve dealt with a lot of hard things—just like so many of you have. We all have different stories, and every single one of them is unique, powerful, and deeply meaningful. No two journeys are exactly the same, but we all know what it means to fight for our lives. I also want to share something I just realized today: as you read this, I have 9 months and 4 days clean. That is a huge milestone for me. To some people, that might sound like a short amount of time—but to me, it is a lifetime. After more than 20 years in addiction, and 10 of those years trying to truly find recovery, this means everything to me. This is more than clean time. This is freedom. This is peace. This is proof that change is possible. One of the biggest things I’ve learned along the way is the importance of trusting a Higher Power. In Narcotics Anonymous and other fellowships, surrendering to a High...
2 comments
Read more

Life on Life's Terms

 Brothers and Sisters in Recovery 🙏 Life on life's terms. What does that really mean? For many of us, recovery has taught us that life doesn't always go according to our plans. In active addiction, we often tried to control everything around us—people, situations, outcomes, emotions, and circumstances. When things didn't go our way, frustration, anger, resentment, fear, and self-pity would often follow. Today, recovery teaches us a different path. Living life on life's terms means accepting reality as it is, not as we wish it would be. It means understanding that we cannot control the weather, other people's actions, traffic, illness, financial setbacks, disappointments, or unexpected challenges. What we can control is how we respond to those things. Recovery doesn't promise us a life free from hardship. It doesn't guarantee that every day will be easy, that relationships will always work out, or that pain will never visit our lives. What recovery does prov...
2 comments
Read more