After rehab, I knew that I needed to protect my sobriety in order to keep it. It would not be a “one and done” thing. I began to realize that being sober was much more than staying dry, I needed to be both emotionally sober and sober-minded. The lack of these led to me turning to a substance for relief. Simple abstinence, would only last as long as life were stable. I had to be capable of dealing with “life on life’s terms”. This was the day by day maintenance talked about in recovery literature.
Going through the 12-Steps, helped tremendously in integrating a new way of life but despite feeler better emotionally and spiritually than I had in years, I still did not feel whole. I had studied theology for a number of years, and had a long held belief that a “person” is three parts mind, body, and spirit. I had an “Aha” moment and realized the physical component was what I was lacking in my daily maintenance regiment. I was doing nothing to improve my body. This was the spark behind what got me off the couch and out in the back field running. I created a routine, every day I would wake and first thing read a devotion and pray to nurture my spirit, exercise a little to activate the body, and meditate to align the mind. If I stuck to this, I knew that I would guard my sobriety, and hopefully grow with consistency- in theory at least. This concept of whole person health, is how I live my life. My intuition is that if one part of the person is stronger or weaker than the other, the whole is out of balance, and will lead to quick gratification. If Im ever feeling sad, down, or inadequate I check myself to see if there’s part of me I have been negating. Identify it, and practice some self-care. I am by no means a guru or any kind of authority. I don’t have any peer reviewed sources to cite, only my experience and my beliefs. For the first time in my life I actually feel whole. Don’t get me wrong, there are still dark days with lonely dreary clouds. Mindfulness meditation helps me immensely to accept these days and their impermanence. Running gives me a consistent goal, a project to work on every day to make my body better today than its ever been. When I’m spiritually healthy, I know deep down that my life has meaning and purpose. I can see it and experience it in every moment. Through it all I view every day as a gift, and an opportunity to live life abundantly.
2 Comments
Amanda
3/12/2021 06:24:49 pm
Thank you thank you thank you for sharing your journey. I can relate in some aspects except going to rehab, not that that makes me any different but I have times I am on track, then fall off then exercise & stay motivated then have a stressful day & fall off. The difference I see is that I have not committed to a schedule. Thank you again for sharing, you are an inspiration. I pray you continue your positive journey & inspiration to us all. 🙏✌🏼❤😊🙏
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Eric
3/13/2021 03:28:31 pm
Wow Amanda! Thanks so much for reading, and sharing. The greatest hope I have is to be of help to someone else. You’ll find a routine that works! For me what works best is having three non-negotiable’s (one thing for mind, body, and spirit) for self-care, everything else on the schedule can vary by the day.
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AuthorA human being learning to run and breathe, again. Read more about me here. Archives
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