Photo Credit--basketman23
The prevalence, pathways and processes of long-term addiction recovery have been hidden from public view for far too long. Most importantly, recovery has been invisible to those most in need of its transforming presence. Recovery has long been cloistered behind the walls of treatment centers and within the rooms of mutual aid meetings. Today, recovery is further obscured by the media's obsession with self-destructing celebrities-of-the-moment. It is shrouded by generations of stigma and the shame it continues to elicit. It is masked by professional helpers so preoccupied with the pathologies of addiction that they fail to see the lived solutions that surround them.
But make note, a movement is afoot that seeks to free recovery from these constraints--a movement that is seeking to put recovery in the wind so that it can penetrate even the most shadowed corners of the richest and poorest communities. The faces and voices of the individuals and families riding this wind are offering a simple but powerful testimony: "We are the evidence that addiction recovery is both possible and sustainable. Hope and healing pushed the sickness and suffering out of our lives. We welcome you and will show you the paths that led to our deliverance."
To those who've been given a new life, what are you doing to put recovery into the wind? Is it time you further extended your heart, your voice, your hands? There are people just beyond your present reach who need your experience and your guidance. They will soon be searching for you. Get ready.
To addictions professionals, what are you doing to carry recovery outside the confines of your paid duties When civilians ask you about how difficult your work must be? Do you tell them the joys of your work--what it is like to see individuals and families transformed by the miracle of recovery? Are you putting the good news of recovery into the wind? New expectations are coming for you to do so. Get ready.
To the recovery advocates whose faces and voices are already in the wind, are you doing what you need to do to sustain yourself in this special arena of service work? Are you aware that others are coming to join you? They will arrive soon. Get ready.
To those still suffering, listen for the wind. It is coming to get you. You must be prepared to step into it.
Recovery is in the wind. Its season has begun. We must all get ready.