Addiction Recovery: A road less traveled

During the darkest hours of World War 2, England found herself all alone. Nazi Germany had knocked France out of the war and turned its focus on England. The events that followed were known as “The Blitz” (1940-1941). This was an attack on England using long-range bombers. Day and night, Nazi Germany waged a large scale assault on England. One can only imagine what it was like during that time in England. Parents sent children north to Scotland. Adults would take shelter in underground bunkers to find safety. It was at this time the prime minister of England, Winston Churchill, gave a powerful speech to rally England. Here is an excerpt from that speech: “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guar...

Finding recovery isn’t simple and it isn’t easy. It is the most worthwhile thing anyone who is addicted to anything can do. I find it interesting when people say things like, “I thought it would be easier”, “I just have to have faith and it will all be better”, and other similar comments. For each of those comments, I remind the individual that there is a lot of work in recovery and in being a disciple of Christ. In James’s epistle, he states the following: “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” ( James 2:17-18 ) James is very clearly teaching us that our actions and thoughts should reflect our faith in Christ. If our actions and statements do not align, there is something amiss. What does this mean for a recovering addict? It means when we say ‘I believe in Christ’, our actions should align with that stat...

One phrase my dad used always to tell me was “If you get knocked down, dust yourself off, and get back up”. To a kid, this often meant if you fall down, you get back up. To a recovering addict, getting back up if a relapse occurs. This isn’t the easiest thing to do. There is a whole shame cycle that comes from relapses. I know when I would relapse constantly, I would have regret, then anger, then resolved I would never do it again, go some time without a relapse, then relapse. It was a never-ending cycle. I tried to keep my relapses to myself, but I’m sure a lot of people saw something was off. I would try to make light of it, but I know they saw something was off. Making sure to get back up after a relapse, in my mind, has several steps to it. First, it is important to communicate a relapse has happened. This is a hard thing to do. Talking about mistakes and weaknesses is not a strength among most humans. In fact, most of us, myself included, would rather go to great lengths to hide ...

Growing up, I always heard my mom and dad say “it’s not good to keep up with the Jones’s”. I struggled with that comment. There was a close family we were friends with that had the last name of Jones. I didn’t understand why we were trying to keep up with them. I saw we had completely different lifestyles and traditions. We had many similar goals, but a lot of goals were vastly different. It wasn’t until later that I realized what that phrase really meant. “Keeping up with the Jones’s” is a comment that indicates an individual is trying to keep up with a different individual in worldly possessions. It suggests an individual is living their life above and beyond their means. Many people find themselves in difficult situations because they try to obtain things others have. It is evident in society today people are trying to chase things they aren’t ready for. The same underlying idea of “Keeping up with the Jones’s” can be found in addiction recovery. I remember seeing men with years a...

Each decision made in life is either playing the long game or the short game. The long game is focused on long-term progress, improvement, and stability in the future. The short game is focused on immediate success, gratification, and risks stability in the future. These two games are played every day from every direction in life. Addiction teaches the individual to have their focus on the short game. The idea is to get an immediate fix and gratification. There is not a lot of thought about the future. The focus is right now, at this very moment. The thoughts about the future are only recognized after acting out, usually accompanied by shameful feelings. What happens next? Well, addiction teaches the individual if they are feeling any negative emotion to take another hit and feel better. Thus, the vicious cycle of addiction thrives when playing the short game. So, what happens when the focus goes to the long game? The individual aligns with a goal and works towards it. For the purpos...

One of the most difficult things to do as an addict is to ask for help. There seems to be a wall between the addict and anyone who could help. In fact, the addict builds the wall and insulates themselves away from the rest of the world. Why? There is a shame factor to addiction. I know when my wall was still up, I would say things like “Why can’t I stop my addiction by myself?”, “I started this, I need to finish it”, and “No one is going to be willing to help me if they truly know what I have done”. All of these are real things I have said to myself. So, what changes? Why do addicts begin to ask for help? There is a common phrase addicts use to describe the darkest, loneliest place they have ever been: rock bottom. This situation is when the addict finally realizes they can’t do it by themselves and the only way to improve is to think outside themselves. Little thoughts like “Can God really help me?”, “Does God want to help me?”, “Am I worthy of God’s love?”, and “How can I feel God’s...

A common phrase about faith goes like this: “Faith is believing without seeing”. I’ve always heard that phrase tied to scripture. I always struggled with this phrase's silent undercurrent of blind faith. Having to just believe then the miracle appears. I always tried to reconcile the idea of “believing without seeing” with other scriptures. For instance, the Lord makes an invitation through the prophet, Malachi. We are invited to make donations to the storehouse and see if God won’t open the windows of Heaven. ( Malachi 3:8-11 ) Things like this make sense to me. God makes an invitation, I act on the invitation, and then God blesses me for following that invitation. At that point, I see my faith grow because I see God keeping His promise as I obey. Then I listened to what Elder Joseph W. Sitati, of the Quorum of the Seventy, said: “Whenever we care to notice, we see that Heavenly Father has given us sufficient witnesses of truth to govern our lives so we will know Him and have the...