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, ...
Brothers and Sisters in Recovery 🙏
The past might tell the story of where I’ve been, but it doesn’t define what I do today.
I’ve lived a rather— for lack of a better term—checkered past, and honestly, even that probably doesn’t scratch the surface. When people ask me what I’ve done with the last 20 years of my life, I tell them, “I’ve been in prison.” That is a fact about my past, but it is not my identity.
Prison changed me. Institutionalization left scars. There are things I still struggle with because of those years, but I refuse to let those experiences become the definition of who I am.
I’ve done bad things. I know the people I’ve hurt. I know the bridges I’ve burned. I know there are consequences from my past that I can’t simply erase. But recovery has taught me something incredibly important: I can acknowledge my past without allowing it to control my future.
I’ve come a long way.
After spending 13 years incarcerated, I came home and within six months I was making $70,000 a year, working in a computer store and living in my own condo in Leesburg, Virginia. I had goals. I had opportunities. I had a life.
And then addiction took much of it away.
The things I did in active addiction still haunt me sometimes. But just like my incarceration, my addiction is part of my story—not the conclusion of it.
Today, I am a person in recovery.
I’m a person who sets goals. I’m a person who can look myself in the mirror. I’m learning to live with a clean conscience, an open heart, and a willingness to do the next right thing.
Recovery doesn’t require me to pretend my past never happened. It requires me to learn from it.
Every mistake can become a lesson. Every broken bridge can teach me how to build better ones. Every painful chapter can become part of a story that helps someone else find their way out.
So if you’re sitting there today thinking your past is too ugly, your mistakes are too great, or you’ve lost too much to ever build a meaningful life again, I want you to know something:
You are not your worst day. You are not your addiction. You are not your mistakes.
You are what you choose to do today.
Stay honest. Stay willing. Stay teachable. Keep showing up. Keep working the program. Keep putting one foot in front of the other.
We don’t have to change everything today. We just have to make the next right decision.
One day at a time.
Progress, not perfection.
Keep coming back.
Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow isn’t promised.
Today is where recovery happens.
With love and gratitude,
Gary G.
This man is a monument. Most people watch movies. He lived life. The things he says in person are beyond account. Gary, you are the best kind of monster. Then one who has lived, loved, found, lost, regained, and now will keep. Stay strong!
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