Pathways to recovery

How many pathways are there to recovery?

The answer is many, many, many pathways. There is no one size fits all or one answer but you may find what one or two or three things that works for you.

And what is a pathway? Quite simply it is a way to access supports that help you get into recovery.

For me I found a twelve step programme that gave me a solid footing into rebuilding my life and maintain my recovery.  It became a comfortable path for me walk for a period of time and gave me confidence to look at other pathways that might be useful to me.

By then I had a sense of who I was and what I was about in this life of recovery and I was able to delve in other supports that helped me change my life and maintain those changes. I don’t know about you but I can identify that I need to change certain areas in my life but often feel I don’t have the tools to make it.

In the absence of having an understanding of what to change and how to change I have done nothing for fear of making it worse. I can assure you; doing nothing in most instances has not been the right thing to do. So a variety of pathways have been what worked for me over the years, all of which complement each other and have helped me move through some challenges that life throws at you.

If I was to compare my recovery to the ingredients in a cake they would look something like this.

• Several cups of step work
• A handful people with whom I identify with and have built solid relationships with
• Many, many pinches of reality to wake me up and own my stuff!
• A dozen or so of therapy sessions with a lovely therapist
• With a few sprinklings of study and trainings thrown in for good measure
• The icing on the cake is made up from achievements, successes and goals met with the right amount of pride to own the work put in on it.
• As many grams of laughter as I can get my hands on with friends I have made along the way mixed in with a few tears from all the laughing along with the pains in my diaphragm from the belly laughs.

I hope your pathway to recovery brings you lots of cake that has your own special ingredients that work for you. I hope it is the sweetest cake you have ever tasted and that it fills you up in a very satisfactory way. It will be worth the effort.