Addiction Recovery: A road less traveled

There is a big push in the world today to develop passive income. The advertisements to develop passive income can be seen all over social media, news outlets, and folks just talking about it. For those who don’t know, passive income is an income stream that brings in money with minimal effort. It basically requires a little investment up front and then it runs itself. This idea of passive income made me think of addiction and addiction recovery. Addiction is similar to passive income. Addiction starts small, with a little ‘investment’. Then it begins to build. The addiction develops into something bigger and bigger. Soon enough, it’s a raging monster that is out of control. Addiction recovery, however, is not passive at all. Addiction recovery takes effort and determination. Addiction recovery takes consistent, daily effort no matter where you are along the addiction recovery journey. This realization that addiction recovery is not passive didn’t click for me for some time. I just e...

A common question I had before I started my addiction recovery journey was where can I turn to for peace? I had landed in a place where all I wanted was peace, and I could not find it. I had learned to turn to the thing that was driving me to destruction. Pornography was not bringing me peace. It was leading me to absolute hell. I didn’t really know where to turn to. What I didn’t realize was it wasn’t a question of where to turn to. It was a question of who can I turn to? One of my favorite hymns, “Where can I Turn for Peace?” , provides an answer to that question. In verse 2, we read, “Where, when my aching grows, Where, when I languish, Where, in my need to know, where can I run? Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish? Who, who can understand? He, only One.” The who that we can all turn to is Jesus Christ. If you were like me, the thought of turning to Jesus Christ was daunting. The idea of getting support from Jesus Christ was scary. I honestly thought I was too far gone to b...

The largest organism in the world isn’t exactly what you think. I know for me, I always thought something like the blue whale was the largest organism in the world. Can you imagine my surprise when I learned one of the largest organisms in the world is my home state of Utah! There is an aspen grove in central Utah next to Fish Lake named Pando . This grove of aspen trees is thousands of years old and spans 108 acres. One of the many reasons why this grove of aspen trees has lasted so long is it’s root system. Under the ground, all the roots are intertwined together. So when storms and winds come through the valley, each tree anchors another tree. So in all reality, the only way to blow down one tree is to blow them all over. It is easy to see how Pando’s strength has come from the storms and winds affecting it. Let’s consider one tree in the aspen grove. As a storm comes through, the tree will recognize it needs to grow a thicker trunk to withstand the wind. Additionally, since the tr...

    Personal revelation is an important part of addiction recovery. Throughout all the steps there is a need to listen to the Holy Ghost and truly understand what is being taught. When I think back to the steps before step 11, I can see where listening to the Holy Ghost and acting on those promptings truly helped me find sobriety. There were several times while I was writing my moral inventory that I did or did not want to write something down. In those situations, I was able to rely on the Holy Ghost to help me know what I should and should not write down. In step 6 and step 7, we are invited to identify negative characteristics and become willing to give them to God. This requires an inward look that only the Holy Ghost can provide. Once a characteristic is identified, relying on the Holy Ghost to teach you how to give up those characteristics is necessary and needful. I cannot begin to explain how much I needed the Holy Ghost to teach me how to give up characteristics like ...

     Boy Scouts were an essential part of my childhood. I loved going to scouts and participating in the many merit badges. One such merit badge that I enjoyed was orienteering. The orienteering merit badge aims to teach scouts to be great at using compasses for navigation. [ 1 ]      During one such training, I recall a leader teaching us about choosing landmarks as we took bearings. He said to ensure we identified noticeable, stationary objects that we could always look toward and see. He added that we shouldn't select objects that were not noticeable or stationary. The example he used was an eagle in a tree. He pointed out that although the eagle was noticeable, there was a chance the eagle might fly away. We learned to look for landmarks we would always notice and could ensure would not move.     This lesson I learned in orienteering applies to addiction recovery as well. There is a landmark that I have learned I can orient to and know I am he...