Addiction Recovery is a Personal Experience
Addiction recovery is an intensely personal experience. The variety of addiction recovery experiences are as diverse as our personalities. However, there are common threads that most recovery journeys share. Recovery is meant to be a transformative process; it must be to be successful.
Addiction recovery is about much more than the cessation of drug and alcohol consumption. It means challenging our ideas about the world and ourselves. Perspectives and long-held beliefs often must change.
Enter recovery prepared for introspection and realization about yourself. Perhaps most of all, be ready for change. The truth is a person in recovery will often begin a spiritual journey before they even recognize it as such.
Addiction Recovery and Spirituality
Addiction recovery is transformative by nature. That makes spirituality a natural part of the conversation. Recovery from addiction and spirituality have combined to form the core of modern substance abuse recovery ever since the formation of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1935.
There are several reasons for this connection, and perhaps the first is the idea of the recovering person accepting the need for a power greater than themselves. People generally only find themselves on the threshold of recovery only after they have exhausted the avenues of relying upon willpower and self-determination to “muscle” their way toward sobriety. The simple act of accepting addiction recovery as the answer requires a certain degree of willingness and faith in something outside oneself.
The second reason is simple. It works. Anecdotal evidence of the beneficial marriage of recovery and spirituality abounds. More than that, studies have confirmed the efficacy of a spiritual solution.
What Does Spirituality Mean?
The term spirituality causes some apprehension among some people because, more often than not, they identify the word with organized religion or perhaps belief systems they rejected long ago. To understand the symbiotic relationship between recovery and spirituality, you may need to broaden your definition of the latter.
It does not require adopting any organized religion or belief system you see as dogmatic. Spirituality, at its core, is simple. At its most basic, it means accepting the idea that life has meaning and purpose.
It is about having reverence and respect for yourself and others. The paths to spirituality are many, but the destination is the same.
What Are the Benefits of Blending Recovery and Spirituality?
Addiction is a chronic brain disorder. Recovery from substance use will be the biggest challenge many people face in their lives. But recovery also has the power to do so much more than help to stop a substance use disorder in its tracks.
It transforms people’s lives for the better. Many people who discover the benefits of spirituality may never have done so without their pursuit of recovery leading them down that path.
The benefits of a lifestyle that incorporates recovery and spirituality are many. Studies show that the spiritual component notably improves the chances of long-term success in recovery. Spirituality helps build a community that provides the support and fellowship so pivotal to lasting recovery.
Finally, spirituality gives a person a sense of purpose and meaning, which can be especially valuable to someone who has been living in despair and isolation so familiar to people living with substance use disorders.
If you or someone you love is living with a substance use disorder and you’re ready for change, The Ranch Tennessee can help. Give us a call at (888) 645-7453.
