Remember that movie Looking for Mr. Goodbar? No? Suffice to say a lonely woman goes to her neighborhood bar most nights, gets drunk and hooks up (what used to be called “having a one-night stand”) with strangers. It ends badly. In fact the final scene of the movie still haunts me… This is a long way of explaining the title of this post, which may lead you to think I am looking for some exemplar of non-using to hold up and present with a shiny award. Or that I am searching for the perfect sober mate…

That is not the case. Actually I am referring to the crux of the movie – the fact that love, like recovery, is an illusive concept.

I just completed my CCAR Sober Coach training, so you should listen to me now. I heard in my training, that “recovery” is really anything a person who is dealing with addiction thinks it is. And that some people are in recovery for life while others feel they are no longer at risk and define themselves as “recovered”.

Does the paragraph above make you uncomfortable?

I am a researcher. I love digging into things. There are expert definitions of “recovery”; treatment center definitions; Recovery Allies definitions; AA, Celebrate Recovery and Smart Recovery interpretations…

I went to the women of Sanford House in last Friday’s group meeting and asked them what they wanted from their recovery – what “recovery” meant to them. Almost all the answers had the word “life” in them.

The point, I think, is that everyone in recovery is seeking a better life.

ICYDSI

There is no “correct” answer to the question, “What is recovery?” In fact, the definition of addiction recovery is so subjective, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) uses 10 Guiding Principles of Recovery and a “working definition”. It reminds me of the pirate Barbossa, in The Pirates of the Caribbean, when he […]