The "WE"

"We admitted that we are powerless over alcohol and that our lives had become unmanageable." - Step 1, Alcoholics Anonymous

It seems so contrary that the best solution to maintaining abstinence from drugs, including alcohol, lies within a group that has individually lived out their worst nightmares. What drives the phenomenon of "support recovery" and how important is "the WE"?

Consider this - the most unlikely defenders of freedom are a group of kids that show up at boot camp from every corner of the nation, from every socio-economic background, and from every experience (or lack there of) that you can think of. We give them 8 weeks to become a '"WE", and then entrust our nation's most prized asset, freedom, to them. As I see it they've done a great job! They figured out how to give up something of themselves for the greater good of "the WE".

You see "the WE" in support recovery systems works this same way. An individual that knows that they want what a group of recovering addicts has understands the importance of giving up themselves for "the WE". In fact, the battle looks eerily similar to those who defend our freedom. Your life may depend on it!

SWEATING Honesty

One of the schticks that I use frequently when teaching is what I call a candid discussion on what rigorous honesty is. If you have heard any of that and your mind is not already reeling then shame on you. Rigorous honesty is .... (all together now) honesty to the point of SWEAT!

Have you noticed in your own life the physiological correlates of honesty. I mean really - how many other things cause your stomach to churn, you palms to sweat, and your mind to race in so many directions at one time than owning up to who and what we are and what we have done. Probably the greatest cause for celebration is that you are not alone. Honesty may be the best policy, but the path of honesty is often not the easiest one. We spend more time supporting our positions of why its okay to have said this or done that than just acknowledging one important fact - the truth is the truth even if I don't like it.

"Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program...They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty." (Alcoholics Anonymous,"How It Works"). The fundamental challenge for well rounded healthy people inside recovery (and everywhere else) is to work on honesty to the point that it makes us SWEAT. You know what I'm saying - taking the hard road; the one that nauseates you a little and causes you so much discomfort that you perspire. The one that makes you stop a story or a sentence right in the middle and tell the person next to you to "disregard that - it wasn't true".

Addicts have an uncanny ability to justify and rationalize. Be careful and remember -at the end of every sentence, day, year, and lifetime there is truth. Define yourself by sweating it out of you even when it looks hard at the moment.