One Day at a Time

The commonly used phrase in both recovery and stress relieving aspects of life is taking it “One Day at a Time”. This no doubt falls under the category of a cliché saying but there is a reason that cliché sayings are so common. It’s because they work. That being said I think my perspective on ‘one day at a time’ can give you an opportunity to see it in a different light.

One day at a time is something that can seem hard to do at first and seem like it’s a totally different way of life. In all reality, we have been practicing it everyday in our active addiction. I know that when I got up everyday in my active addiction, I had no interest in tomorrow, I only worried about how to get through and plan for that day. I knew it would just add more stress worrying about tomorrow.

Our days in active addiction were only focused on one day at a time because drinking or getting high was our only goal for the day. Doing this everyday while you were in active addiction gave us a lot of practice in focusing on one day at a time. This means we have gotten pretty damn good at it. No matter what we do we are programed to win at what we choose to do. This is the truth and is something that we must always keep in perspective. Because we can use it to our advantage.

Be Addicted To Your Recovery

So, now that we have evaluated that we are very experienced in living “One Day at a Time” in a negative way we can now switch it to allow it to better our lives.

We will always have an addictive personality, but we can now get into the mentality of being addicted to our recovery. This is a big way that I learned to get into and sustain my recovery to this day. I think about my addictive qualities as tools to help maintain and learn new ways to help strengthen my recovery. It feels absolutely amazing and it will for you too.

You see, wanting to find out how to improve your recovery as a chance to brighten your day can make you feel better than any day that you have chose to use. Learning new things about your recovery and knowing you are strengthening it has the opportunity to make you feel more euphoria than any drug you’ve ever taken. This is what drives my passion for recovery and can drive your recovery too.

Now that recovery is your new type of addiction here are some examples of something you can ask yourself to look for on a daily basis.

• What is a new coping skill I can learn today to put in my coping skill arsenal for when I may have a trigger?

• How can I gain something to be grateful for today?

• Where can I find a meeting to go to today?

• What is something that I can plan to talk to my counselor about when I see them next?

• Who can I make amends with today?

• What is something I can do today that I know I couldn’t have done when I was using? (Going fishing, going grocery shopping without the want to spend the money on harmful things, hanging out with a specific family member, etc.)

Before you start this next chapter, you’ll have to do one thing which is going to be worth it. Take it as an excuse to get outside and enjoy a nice drive or walk. This next chapter is about the Get-It-Done-Notebook. Head to the store and choose a notebook that really sticks out to you. I recommend getting a new one to represent a fresh start on life with this new tool you’re going to learn. Get a pen and a marker. I say both because there is something about crossing out a goal that has been achieved with a bold black line going through it. That’s just me and it works so I recommend you do it too. This will all make seance in the next chapter. Let’s do this.