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Each person has their own idea of recovery and what it may look like for them. For some, images of people sitting in a circle talking about their difficulties with addiction come to mind. For others, they may picture a more medical setting, or sitting one-on-one with a professional to talk about their childhood. However, the idea of recovery is something that is actually very fluid and doesn’t adhere to just one definition. Recovery can mean many different things to many different people. Because recovery doesn’t have an inherent definition of what can or cannot be therapeutic, it is possible for someone to begin to mold their own recovery model and personalize their own experiences and healing. Taking hold of one’s own recovery model involves not just finding a way in which someone can begin to introduce new and healthier dimensions into their lives, it also becomes a simultaneous exercise in one’s own agency. Recovery is designed not just to help someone confront their vulnerabilities with addiction or mental health disorders, but also to empower each person to pursue their own identities in their personal journey towards self-actualization.
Using Individuality as a Tool
In recovery, it is common to find one’s self in a group setting. However, this doesn’t mean that someone is compromising their own individuality in order to partake in these kinds of activities or be active members of a recovery community. Rather, each person and their own unique experiences and therapeutic practices are what help flesh out the group and create an overall better chance for success in each of its members. Individuality is a way for each person to take on their own challenges in their own ways, then share these experiences and lessons about their recovery process with others, which in turn supports the other. It allows someone a safe space to experiment with the idea of their own future and own passions, while also addressing grounding techniques and coping mechanisms for dealing with the stresses of addiction recovery or mental health recovery in the moment. Recovery is more than finding strategies to cope with an urge to drink again. Recovery is a transformational process that gifts someone the tools to utilize their talents and energy in a healthy, productive way that doesn’t necessitate the need or desire for alcohol or drugs to feel accomplished.
What Does Recovery Entail?
Without a solid outline of what can or cannot be a recovery or therapeutic process, recovery can instead be thought of in terms of how it intends to change the person. Recovery does begin with finding inherent grounding strategies for each individual in order to help each person cope with the urges to drink or use drugs, safe ways of expressing their anxieties, or walk through depression. These elements are important in establishing a baseline for each person and become daily techniques that can open the doors for more transformative practices.
Recovery, in a transformational sense, involves someone making fundamental changes to their daily routine, mental state, and overall outlook on the world and their own lives. To accomplish this, recovery utilizes someone’s own attention and energy, passion, and a sense of progression in order to begin to reform someone’s identity in recovery. Therapeutic practices involve someone putting in effort and time, setting attainable goals, and instilling a desire to recover. As such, therapeutic models are intended to be modified to fit each individual and their own talents and interests.
Creating Your Own Path to Success
As long as one’s personal investment and passion are met with intention, someone can find therapeutic value in many things. While some may find the calming, serene atmosphere of yoga gives them the ability to address their own daily stressors, others may find just as much success by taking up boxing if it fits their therapeutic mindset and done with intention. Boxing, being a demanding sport that requires someone to be physically and mentally fit, can become a tool for therapy as someone finds themselves exercising and practicing instead of drinking, or joining boxing gyms and finding new, supportive crowds rather than the potentially ill-fitting company of those in their lives previously. Boxing itself can harness passion as someone finds themselves prioritizing studying the great athletes of the sport over their desire to use drugs or alcohol. Accomplishing this takes a great deal of agency, and will overall have a more transformational impact on someone’s life, regardless of if they want to pursue life as a professional boxer. It was something that they controlled and utilized to separate their new, sober identity from the identity that may be closely tied to dangerous influences. Simply deciding to go fishing one time may not hold therapeutic value. However, harnessing fishing with intention, dedicating one’s self to learning, and joining social circles with supportive, accepting individuals may help someone translate their time on the lake from a time to drink beer, to a time of relaxation, detachment, and the bridge between their own self-actualization and the world of potential around them.
Taking hold of your own recovery model can mean different things to different people, and that sense of individuality is something that is championed in the communities established by START UP RECOVERY. Each person is helped along with their own goals and is encouraged to explore their own passions and tools for success that can help them achieve the transformations in their own lives. Whether it be a recovery from the use of drugs or alcohol, mental illness, or co-occurring disorders, START UP RECOVERY can help you establish your own identity and path to success while providing a luxurious, supportive atmosphere and community. For more information on the various ways in which START UP RECOVERY can help you take hold of your own recovery process, or to speak to a trained professional about the various tools and benefits that may be applicable to your unique situation, call us today at (310) 773-3809.