Recovering from addiction is not easy; if someone is suffering, they need to work very hard both mentally and physically. Emotions come back that were buried under a lucid haze. Trust, which was obliterated by self seeking, sworn promises never to relapse (again), missed appointments, the letting down of family, loved ones, children friends; it takes forever to build up that trust again even though it was dashed quite quickly by those of us who sought out altered chemical states.
Addiction comes in two parts; the mental and the physical. There is the mental obsession for our poison of choice, that insanity that, somehow, we will not use as much as we did yesterday while knowing deep down that we are lying even to ourselves, not to mention that somehow today will be different. We will beat the game so to speak.
Then there is that physical craving that means we consume ever more and more, all the while convincing ourselves that, today, we won't do what we have been doing every single day up until that point. Then oblivion comes and we wake scared full of fear and repeat.
Although our friends and family mean well, they perhaps cannot understand what happens in the mind of an addict in the same way that an addict can. That is why it is important for those who have found recovery, using whatever means at their disposal, owe it to those still gripped by their addiction to help, support, love, and tolerate those who have had enough and seek sobriety and recovery.
Recovery is a wonderful place. It means knowing where you were yesterday; what actually happened yesterday, perhaps money in the bank to pay those bills with, feeling healthy, being able to eat and engage with others that non addicts take for granted.
That's right; recovery is right here, right now and it is to know a peace, serenity and happiness that is higher than any other. It is legal, it's free and it's yours right now.