I Wish I Could Tell You That Recovery Is Easy…

I wish I could tell you that it would be easy. I wish I could tell you that it would be pain-free, that it wouldn’t be hard and that you wouldn’t have to fight for it. I wish I could, but I can’t because if I did it would be a lie, I know because I’ve been there.

Recovery is not always easy. Sometimes recovery is hard. Sometimes it is difficult to apply the skills you have learned to stay sober when there are people around you waiting for you to fail. Sometimes you want to give up. Sometimes it may not seem worth it. Sometimes you don’t want to fight through the cravings anymore. This is where many people fail when many people give up. But this is also where many people chose to keep fighting and where many people grow stronger.

This is where you find out what you are really made of. This is where you learn how powerful you can be. This is where you learn the meaning of bravery, to keep going even though you might be afraid. This is how you achieve long-term sobriety. This is how you make significant life changes. This is where you grow, this is where you learn. This is how you figure out who you really are.

We all go through hard times regardless of whether it is addiction or something else. Everyone experiences heartbreak, everyone knows what it means to lose but not everyone learns how it feels to keep pushing forward, to not give up when things get hard and to not stop trying. People in addiction recovery are some of the strongest and bravest people you will ever meet because it takes courage to not only admit you have a problem but to also do something to fix it.

To all of the people out there reading this that are in recovery, I want to acknowledge you for all of your hard work. To all of the people out there contemplating the idea of getting sober or who have fallen off the wagon and feel like they can’t get back up, I want you to know that it may not be easy but you can do this!!!

Sincerely,

Julie