We are given a unique and powerful opportunity for healing when we are able to be in community with other people in recovery. When we find people who have experienced the recovery process firsthand and who want to help us with ours, they can be invaluable to our healing.
Support groups, treatment centers, and our friendships with recovering addicts offer us an opportunity to learn from other people’s lived experiences. While each of our paths is unique, we often experience similar elements related to our addictions, including traumatic experiences, unresolved fears, and compulsive behaviors. We often have developed similar coping strategies, struggle with similar mental health issues and share a tendency to be self-destructive. Many of us first began developing addictive behaviors early in life as young children and have been dealing with them for most of our lives.
Unlike many of us who are still struggling, recovering addicts have years of experience managing their addictions. They’ve learned healthier coping mechanisms to handle their difficult emotions. They’ve learned ways to quiet the voices of the inner demons that used to bring them down. They’ve done a lot of the work they needed to do to heal from their traumatic experiences, and they have healthier strategies for facing their fears.
Everyone’s experience with their addictions and recovery is going to be different. No two of us are exactly the same. Sometimes we close ourselves off to other people because we think we’re alone in our struggles, but if we can open ourselves to the possibility of learning from other people, we might be pleasantly surprised with what we receive. When we’re open to it, we receive the guidance and wisdom we need to help us along our way.
We can choose to believe we are being supported in our recovery. Many of us have adopted limiting beliefs that the world is out to get us, that recovery is impossible, that there are no kind people out there who genuinely want to help us. When we open our hearts, we allow all the people in who do in fact want to help and support us.
Other people in recovery can remind us we’re not alone. Feeling other people’s empathy and understanding can make us feel so comforted, reassured and supported, things we may not have felt in a long time. We might find sponsors with whom we develop a special connection, who can offer us individualized guidance and who can offer the friendship of someone who genuinely understands what we’re going through.
The staff of Vista Taos includes people in recovery. We are passionate about helping people recover. Call (575) 586-5078.
