One of our staff members talks about the slow and steady process of addiction recovery while at Newfound Freedom Sober Living

As someone who has been through the ringers of recovery from addiction & alcoholism, I know all too well that gut-wrenching feeling of needing to move fast.  No matter where I was at the time; drug rehab, sober living, therapy or who knows, there was always that ever nagging voice inside telling me that we needed to make up for lost time.  No matter who or what was telling me to take it slow and steady, it seemed like implementing that concept into my recovery at the time would be excruciatingly difficult!

Like anything else in life, the recovery process requires practice and persistence; but beyond that it requires a sense of willingness to go against everything you think you may know inside.  As for me personally, I had lost upwards of 20+ years due to my own drug addiction, and the thought of living in the moment as being the utmost priority, rather than planning ahead and repairing the past, was probably the single main cause for my repeated relapses.  That willingness to abandon everything I thought I knew to be right was foreign, uncomfortable, and at times downright painful!

The great thing about sober living or recovery housing is that it enables people to experiment with such new concepts in a somewhat real-world setting.  Having the day to day freedoms to test out “slow and steady,” while simultaneously being afforded the security of a structured recovery atmosphere at home, is priceless.  In the tech world they call it playing in the sandbox.  It makes perfect sense.  What better place to offer the benefits of relearning to function in society on a sober level than the proverbial sandbox?

Working here at Newfound Freedom is a gift for me.  First of all, just the mere component of what the Bristol, Pennsylvania recovery community has to offer is, in and of itself a gift.  Beyond that however, I get a daily reminder of how the newcomer brain operates within most of us; and just for the record I am no more immune to slipping into this thought process than anyone else!  It has taken me many months of constant work, reminders and contrary action.

At the end of the day I consider myself blessed!  I am grateful to the recovery process and for the opportunity to work here.  My hope for us all in the new year is that we never forget where we cam from, and that we never forget the importance of paying it forward….