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The term “recovery” has a loose definition. It’s widely agreed upon that the first step in recovery is the recognition that there is a problem and that something needs to be done about it. So for the sake of this article, let’s say that a person who is motivated to live a life of abstinence is in recovery.

Let’s review some benefits of being in recovery as Recovery Month 2014 comes to a close.

End of Loneliness

Especially if you attend 12 Step meetings or other support groups, the days of sitting at home alone every day are pretty much over. People who have suffered and found relief in recovery learn the importance of fellowship with others. This translates into a lot of invitations to gatherings, coffee sits, meals, holiday parties, and even trips away from home.

The likelihood of constant companionship triples if you are a drug addict or alcoholic who chronically relapses. Recovering individuals love to be of service to those who still suffer, and for good reason. Showing others how to stay clean and sober has been proven time and again to be a benefit to one’s own sobriety.

It can be a little scary, at first. Isolation is very popular with those who suffer from alcohol dependence or drug addiction, so engaging in social interaction is an alien concept. But the fear begins to shed very quickly, leaving an opening to a new life of joyously full calendars.

Bodily Functions Work Properly

Barring any permanent damage that may have been caused, the body remembers how to function the right way rather quickly once abstinence is achieved. It can take time for things to return to completely normal, like the way feet will feel too large for shoes because nerves are kicking back into gear. But some things wake up fast, like taste, smell, balance, and just not hearing the heart beating so hard as if it is breaking out of the chest cavity.

There’s no need to go into things that you wouldn’t discuss in public, here. But let’s just say that we often take for granted how nicely things move along.

Alcohol affects the body all the way down to the cellular level. It is poison, so the body pushes it out through any possible exit including glands and skin (that’s why alcoholics smell of alcohol), and leaves a wave of damage behind it. This means that a long-term heavy drinker will literally see improvements in every part of his body for quite some time. Rejoice!

Direction and Purpose

The old “What’s the use” attitude has to go away if recovery is the goal. This would leave a vacuum if that complacency wasn’t replaced with some form of spiritual progress, and nature abhors a vacuum (probably because of how it’s spelled). The 12 Step programs, in part, sneakily train the newly sober person to seek a less chaotic life. That in itself adds purpose to life and is motivation, if not the creator of, specific direction.

Being a spiritual pursuit, this doesn’t mean a change of jobs or associations, although that may be part of the deal. It means seeking goals for more altruistic reasons, becoming more charitable, or driving grandma to the store when you never used to, for example, because these things all lead to mutual fulfillment among all involved. We no longer seek selfish ends. If we benefit in any way, it’s only out of some collateral effect from improving the world for others.

This brings us to the best benefit of all, which only comes from long-term abstinence and recovery:

Getting to Know Your Self

That isn’t a typo. The ‘Self’ is something that all alcoholics and addicts lose sight of, or maybe never knew before recovery. The Self is who we are, what makes us happy or sad, tells us what we need and don’t need, why we love, and what tells us to just stop at times. We spend years seeking something to make us feel like we belong in society, and with each drink, hit, slam, snort, or pill, we get further and further away from our most precious gift in life. It’s a beautiful thing, and finding it was the single most significant experience in this writer’s life.

Finding recovery and being motivated to stay that way is wonderful, but that hole in the soul still seeks to be filled. The world is still a big question mark. At some point, when the time is right, you will look in the mirror and see someone very special. You will see ‘You’. Perspectives suddenly change and the world, not just you, has purpose. You get to see life as not good or bad, but just as it is supposed to be. And you get to just be a part of it.

A Recovering Person’s Dream

How great it would be if all alcoholics and addicts could see the world like this. The dream is to give all who suffer from alcohol dependence and drug addiction just one day with the feeling of recovery and to know their ‘Self’. Many would go back to alcohol and drugs the next day, and others would make an effort toward abstinence. But at least they could know it is possible.

The reward is awesome, so of course the journey is difficult to begin. There is no magic, so we can only share what we know. Leaving this Recovery Month behind, let’s all of us in recovery make the commitment to continue telling those who suffer how they can get better.