How do I keep the changes I’ve made during my journey?

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 tree’s roots are tied to the trees around it, the root system has to grow stronger to aide the surrounding trees. In essence, the tree grows stronger and maintains it’s strength as it helps the other trees around it.

A similar lesson is learned in the addiction recovery journey. Thinking about my journey and the initial storms that I faced, I see how many people served me and helped me stand tall. People like my wife, parents, sponsor, friends, and fellow brothers in ARP stood around me as I started. Now that I have several years of experience, there are people who need my help just as I need the help of others. The changes I have learned to make have made me stronger; however, if I think for a second that I can withstand the storms of life without helping those around me, I will be blown over like a single tree in a meadow.

The Lord, Jesus Christ, taught Peter “But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not; and when though art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” (Luke 22:32) Similar to Peter, when we gain a testimony of Jesus Christ and find success in him to overcome our addictions, it then becomes our responsibility to help those around us who struggle with the same addiction. The same call to Peter from Christ becomes our call to help those around us!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Story

Hi, I'm Billy. I'm a normal guy from the great state of Utah. I have a BS in Mathematics and a Master of Statistics from the University of Utah. I consider myself a data analytics and visualization professional in the healthcare space. I'm passionate about powerlifting and competing in that sport. I grew up in a Christian home based on Christian values. I'm also recovering from an addiction to pornography. My addiction to pornography started in the 6th grade. I heard a rumor one of my fellow students brought a 'picture' to school. I was curious and asked about it. My fellow student smiled and showed it to me. Unfortunately, that's all it took to start my addiction. From that point on, I found myself struggling with images and acting out. No matter what I did, I couldn't shake those images from my head. Pretty soon I found myself looking for more images in any way I could find them. As I got older, I found myself increasing methods to please my addiction.
Read more

Addiction Recovery is not Passive

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
Read more

Start writing

While I was attending the University of Utah, I overheard an interesting conversation between a student and a professor. The student was a graduate student and began explaining his idea. The conversation that followed was interesting and captivating. Then the professor asked how much time the graduate student had in his program. After the student reported his time left, the professor gave him this advice: “Start writing.” I could hear the tone of his voice. He said it with a sense of urgency and caution. As a student myself, I knew the pitfalls of not putting ideas on paper. Ideas might germinate in the mind, but they grow into mathematical facts on paper. This is due to the writer having to think through the idea and truly show what they have learned. This idea of ‘start writing’ is also true for addiction recovery - especially during the moral inventory. The mind doesn’t forget anything, but its recall power can be light sometimes. This is where the power of writing comes into play
Read more