11 Amazing Reasons Why Recovery Month is Important to Me

In the spirit of Recovery Month I decided to dedicate my first September post to why Recovery is important to me.

Recovery is very personal and unique to each persons individual path. There are so many different ways to achieve recovery its difficult to put it all in one box. However, most recovery journeys begin with the desire for a better life and a recovery plan designed to meet our individual needs.

Recovery journeys vary widely and for most of us its a trial and error process. If something doesn't work for you don't be afraid to try something different. There isn't just one right way to recovery and a better life. I made different plans to try and achieve Recovery with no success until I got on the Methadone maintenance program. 

I believe Recovery Month is important because it raises awareness for recovery and all the wonderful things it gives addicts. Recovery has given me so many wonderful things that I just have to share them with all of you and hopefully help raise awareness for addiction recovery.

Recovery has given me a better life by:

1. Being able to follow my dreams
- Without recovery I could of never followed my dreams studying psychology and addiction, as well as becoming a writer and starting this blog to help others.

2. Getting an education
- It enabled me to finish high school, go to university with an 85% average and now I only have one class left to graduate with my bachelors in psychology.

3. Focusing on what makes me happy and finding new passions
- I was able to figure out that doing the right thing made me happy. I discovered I had a passion for learning, psychology, reading and writing.

4. Starting a family & finding my life partner
- Recovery helped me become the person I needed to be to find my partner. I also never really wanted kids until years into my recovery when I finally allowed myself to believe I could be a good mom.

5. Having better relationships
- After I was given the opportunity to work on myself in recovery I learned how to be a better person and I was able to make amends for a lot of the things I put my family through.

6. Having a better standard of living
- As an addict I wasn't able to support myself and had to depend on others. I often couldn't afford food and other necessities. I had a poor standard of living not only financially but also emotionally.

7. Feeling productive and responsible
- Once in recovery I was able to get a job and do my school work. Being able to pay my bills helped me feel responsible and confident that I could take care of myself.

8. Having better self esteem and self love
- Once I started taking responsibility for my actions and doing things I was proud of. I started becoming a better person which did wonders for my self esteem and self love.

9. Learning to forgive
- Recovery gave me the chance to see things a whole lot clearer and because of that I realized that I needed to forgive my family and myself if I was to ever going to get better. Forgiving helped me release all the anger and resentment I had been holding inside me all those years. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I was finally free to be happy.

10. Enjoying the small things
- I remember in early recovery when the small thing started making me happy. I started looking at the stars. I did a snowman with my younger brother for the first time since he was born. Just reading a book made me happy.

11. Helping me appreciate what I have
- As an addict I went without a lot of things and once I was finally in recovery all those things meant so much more to me. I finally had family around me again. I remember just how much I love learning when I went back to school.

Recovery allowed me to discover so many things that made me happy so I didn't have to struggle to keep feeding this huge hole of sadness inside me in the hopes that it would finally make me happy. If only for a moment.

For other great recovery post check out :
4 Important Things I've learned in Recovery & 8 Reasons Why I Chose Recovery

Please Share and spread awareness for recovery month because you never know who might need to see this.

Thanks,
Charmed