Desire, Determination, Dedication, Devotion
Pearl One: Desire, Determination, Dedication and Devotion
An agreed on tenet of being sober is a desire to stop drinking. Truer words could not be written for any life changing needs, and it especially rings true for the addict.
It is this desire that shows that a person realizes that they have a problem in their lives that is unhealthy and self-destructive. It is the number one foothold and steppingstone to recovery. It is the platform that the addict can build upon. It is the initial decision to understand one’s self. It is the parting of the veil that shrouded the eyes and mind.
Unfortunately, the desire alone is not enough. Just like people around the world commit to New Years resolutions for days, weeks, or even months before giving up on their desire until the next year, the addict will find that the desire is only a start. While it is an important part of the journey to recovery, and one that can always be revisited and started anew. It is not enough to just have the desire.
Determination to see the recovery through is the next necessary step if one wishes to be free of the bonds of addiction forever. The recovering addict must be determined to make the changes necessary in their minds, body, spirit and environment to learn how to live without the temptation. This is a very painful and confusing time. It involves grief and emotional detachments. It involves a clear mirror in a brightly lit room casting the reflection of one’s current self. It involves taking inventory of the wrongs committed due to the addiction, and outside of it, including the wrongs committed against us throughout our life. It most importantly involves realizing these negatives and using them to build toward the positive. The determination is a monumental change in how each addict will live moving forward. The desire leads to the determination to change holistically, and that determination must be continually practiced, throughout the recovery journey; day by, and year by year, despite setbacks or lapses or straying from the path. Just like the athlete is determined to put in the work to be a champion, each person with the desire to stop drinking must be determined to put in the work, no matter how painful, to leave the poisoned past permanently behind and determine an ever-evolving plan to a healthy future. With enough dedication, sobriety becomes a habit.
This leads to dedication. Dedication puts it into action the analysis and planning for a successful recovery that each addict desired and then was determined to have.
When a person is dedicated to sobriety they are prepared. They know where they came from, they have a vision of where they want to go, and most importantly they are grounded in knowing who they are now. The addict knows their own temptations, they know the cravings, and they also know the resources they can and will call upon to sidestep these pitfalls. The recovering addict also willingly works with others to raise an understanding of what they have been through and what can be done to aid another addict in need. At this place the recovery should be at full steam. Even a lapse at this point should be a lesson if the dedication is true, and the alcoholic will get right back onto the path they were on before the lapse.
This is not a race to be won, it is a race to be run. In this race, one has a starting point, a path to run, and any number of people to aid them through and around any obstacles that appear.
Which brings us to devotion. The long-term absence of the poisons that bound them will serve the self-actualization and community teamwork as a permanent part of life, and the constant practice will enrich the addict not only in their sobriety, but in all aspects of their life. They will become more devoted to themselves and those like them than they were devoted to the substance that brought them down.
If the desire is there, the pathways is already set. We as alcoholics and addicts need to take the steps forward and stay on it together.
Desire, determination, dedication and devotion are the basic building blocks of any self-improvement, and work particularly well with anyone seeking a way out and forward.