I often use the
term “Nowcovery” instead of “Recovery”. I am not “REcovering anything. And most
of the people I work with aren’t interested in “Recovering” much either. What
they are interested in is building a new life. Building new relationships with the
people that they have broken relationships with. For so many of them, their
life in the past was not ever in a good place. So many come from a past that is
filled with poverty and abuse. They may have never had a healthy relationship
with their parents or children. Why would they want to recover any of it? They
don’t. They want a new life. They want to focus on NOW.
Recovery can be a lot of work and a lengthy process, one that actually never ends. Nowcovery breaks this process down into the simplest of terms. The moment. One moment at a time we make choices that will bring us into a new life, a life we won't have to escape from with alcohol or other drugs.
While we are talking about what’s
happening in our lives NOW and making each moment the most positive and healthy it
can be, we still have to go back into our past. We HAVE to make the connection
between what has happened to us in the past, to how that is driving our current behavior.
Being
able to go and look at the past requires that we get to a safe place to do it.
Where that safe place is, will be different for everyone. Some people find a
safe place in church. They make the necessary human connections there, perhaps
with the church leaders, or small groups. There are different recovery groups
in churches too, Celebrate Recovery and Freedom Seekers to name a few.
Millions of people find that safe place “in the rooms” Alcoholics Anonymous or other 12 step programs. Smart Recovery has had great success for
people who relate best to the world of psychology. Women For Sobriety also has a large following.
Other people seem to
be able to find the necessary safe place in one-on-one counseling. I always recommend counseling in addition to support groups. Counselors are able to make diagnosis, help you work through trauma, and connect you to a psychiatrist should medication be needed.
No person,
no one group owns the market of sobriety or recovery. Finding YOUR path is
critical. I started my recovery “in the rooms”. That is what worked for me for several years. Eventually I met Jesus Christs and found that he was what I needed for healing. Jesus showed me
that he gave me the gift of a love of psychology, so Smart Recovery concepts
help me to learn a new way of interpreting my thoughts. And my desire to learn
how to be a strong, healthy woman brought me to Women for Sobriety. It worked
for me, and my road of NOWCOVERY keeps leading me into new lessons. TO THINE
OWN SELF BE TRUE… we are all our OWN selves. NOWCOVERY meets you where you currently are and will lead you to your safe places.
