This store offers a wide range of spiritual and recovery gifts in 12 steps, such as recovery tokens, coins, medallions, books, journals and meditation guides. The store also sells anniversary and gift cards for special occasions. EHN Edgewood Nanaimo 2121 Boxwood Road Nanaimo, BC V9S 4L2, Canada EHN Guardians Nanaimo 2113 Boxwood Rd, Nanaimo, BC V9S 4L2 EHN Red Deer Recovery Community 27227 Township Road 391 Red Deer, Alberta EHN Guardians Gateway 2225 Lansdowne St West Peterborough, ON K9J 0G5, Canada EHN Nouveau Départ Mont Tréal 1110 Beaumont Ave, Mount Royal, Quebec H3P 3E5, Canada Whether you're ready to start your journey with EHN Canada now or just want to learn more, our admissions counselors can guide you through your options. No, thank you, not at this time. We'll call this the fairly obvious list of things that are logically improved by stopping drinking alcohol, disordering my diet, and working to cope with my feelings and internal dialogue.
While this list was great and all of these things did happen when I achieved recovery, the real rewards of recovery were much more profound than I could have imagined. Maybe it's all that holiday fun and the arrival of the new year that makes me reflect, but I thought it would be best to take advantage of all these Christmas reflections. So, without further ado, here's my take on the 12 days of Christmas, catch-up gift-style. About a decade before I began my recovery, a counselor told me that he was worried that I might reach the top of my life, only to realize that I had leaned against the wrong wall.
I was constantly looking for external solutions to an internal problem. I tried to date, drink, succeed, shop, exercise, eat, and starve to death to achieve happiness. I assure you it didn't work, at least not in a lasting way. I stopped looking outside of myself for a solution to slow down my New York stock market brain and numb my seemingly unbearable feelings.
I developed mental, physical, emotional and spiritual well-being practices that allowed me to gain a foothold and overcome any challenge that arose internally. The most beautiful thing is that, since the solutions I have developed are internal, they don't disappear, no one can take them away from me and there is an infinite supply, which is better than going to the liquor store any day. Before I was sober, my addictions provided a perpetual escape for my pain. It seemed like it was great at the time, but the problem was that I never stayed with the pain long enough to get over it and work it out.
Therefore, I was the walking wounded man who had a bomb loaded with historic pain in my back, which was heavily masked with sturdy anti-fury armor. Someone said or did something hurtful, and instead of reacting in proportion to that event, I reacted in proportion to three decades of unresolved pain. This does not lead to the most ideal interactions with other human beings. Being sober forced me to face all these feelings from the past and allow the wounds to heal.
So now, when someone does something a little clumsy, I can behave like a sensible adult in addressing that behavior. I assure you, the novelty of this has not yet disappeared almost seven years later for me or for those around me. With all that pain I avoided before recovery, I obviously avoided other people as well, since they seemed to be the machines that cause the most damage. This meant minimizing relationships, friendships and, quite frankly, human interactions at all costs.
I did it under the pretext of being “independent” and “lonely”. The truth is that I was terrified. I didn't have the ability to trust myself to choose the right people, and I had a pretty long history of choosing the wrong people. I also lacked the confidence to believe that I could handle anything they did to me. This shouldn't surprise me given my total and utter lack of coping skills.
However, once the pain of the past healed and the current pain stopped scaring me, I tiptoed back into the sand of the village. Now, I'm not going to tell you that everything was nice and perfect. Turns out that humans can be, well, human. Plus, I still picked some lemons right from the start.
The pain passed, but I grew and grew a little more. Indeed, the more sober I am, the better my choice will be. Now I have more people than I know what to do. Courageous, vulnerable, intelligent and recovering people who chose to support me time and time again. To be honest, it's a bit mind-blowing, but the benefits of connecting are endless.
Before I recovered, I had an incessant sense of impending doom that, frankly, was a faithful reflection of the current situation. I was ruining every aspect of my health with the way I drank. Being sober, I now have a feeling that something good is going to happen even in the midst of difficult circumstances. If I do the following right, everything will work out over time.
The reason I can be so sure is that if I look at the last almost seven years of my life from a 10,000-foot perspective, my overall trajectory has been nothing more than upward. Surely there were plateaus or valleys before climbing again. However, I have never been anywhere near the lowest point I was at before starting my recovery. Once a person decides to seek help and understands that there is a problem that needs to be addressed, they already have the mentality of “recovery”, which is a gift in and of itself. Before you can reap the benefits of recovery, you must first find the ideal treatment program for your addiction.
It's crucial to recognize that not everyone who embarks on the path of recovery will receive the gift right away. While the gift of recovery is a deeply personal experience, it doesn't have to be a lonely experience. Those who receive this gift become resilient, battle-hardened, and are better prepared to face life's challenges head-on. We also offer collections of gift and anniversary cards for those special moments and a full selection of essential books, journals and meditation guides on the 12 steps.
When patients have a recovery mindset, the gift of that thinking allows them to excel in treatment because they want to obtain and maintain sobriety. New Horizons Medical is ready to accompany you on this journey, offering comprehensive support and guidance to help you overcome addiction and embrace the gift of recovery. Sobriety is the best gift a person who is committed and dedicated to achieving abstinence from drug and alcohol use will receive.
