Recovery

The Upside of Down

It gets monotonous at times as I join the many other advocates across America in this fight against addiction. I’m often called “Danny Downer” because it seems as if I’m always delivering bad news, but with so many deaths resulting from overdoses at every socio-economic demographic, It just can’t be helped. We often forget to feature the good news. We often overlook the incredible amount of people who are rising above addiction to live not only their life, but a life beyond their wildest dreams.

Addiction is horrible, and for most of us who suffered through it, it was the lowest point in our lives. But recovery from addiction is the silver lining – the upside of down. Had it not been for addiction, I wouldn’t understand recovery. I wouldn’t understand the peak of life from which I view the world. Had I not dealt with the death and destruction of life all around me, most of which I caused, I wouldn’t appreciate the beauty and joy of where I am today.

It is often said that recovery is a process, not just an event. It’s a Journey, not a destination. Some mistakenly believe that by simply walking away from drugs and alcohol it will make everything right in their life. Unfortunately, things are unlikely to be that simple. By ending the substance abuse alone, the individual will most likely be right back where they started before the entire process. Abstinence is not as good as it gets. There’s much more beyond abstinence for fulfillment of life. The journey of recovery has no real ending point and thus it should be enjoyed in itself during the journey.

For many of us, that’s hard to understand – especially while we’re ON the Journey. It’s sometimes hard to see the forest through the trees…. But that’s where “vision” comes in. I call it Recovery Vision – seeing what you want in your life and expecting it for yourself. With newspapers focused on the death and destruction of addiction, with people’s Facebook profiles noting the number 129 – the number of addicts that overdose every day, and a new story on the news every week about the addiction pandemic exploding, there’s little coverage on the amazing recovery from addiction for the millions of people that have found it, and who are living it on a daily basis. I’m not interested in ignoring the past. I’m not interested in forgetting what it is I came through. But when we live our lives, we live them forward while we understand them backwards – in reflection. I want to focus more on recovery, I want to focus our conversations more on recovery- and I want to collaborate with people throughout the country on this mission.

Many people state that the War on Drugs was an abysmal failure. The War on Drugs was more of a war on drug addicts than a war on addiction… so I want to start a NEW War; and I need a new army. I’ve put together something called the Recovery Army and if we can form this collaboration, we will be able to not only change the conversation, but lead more people to look at their own recovery as the upside of the down, the good formed from the bad of addiction. I am asking that you follow our page on social media – Recovery Army – and more importantly, sign up to join the Recovery Army on our website www.recoveryarmy.com This is the place where you will be able to find out everything you need to know about pending legislation, news about recovery as well as addiction, and talk to other “soldiers” in this fight… Please join the Recovery Army and let’s make recovery the new language of this entire public social health crisis.

Steered Straight, Inc.
222 Heritage Park Drive, Suite 101
Murfreesboro, TN 37129
(856) 691-6676
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“Helping Young People Help Themselves”