We all know recovery has ups and downs that we must navigate through. Sometimes, recovery makes us feel on top of the world. Other times, recovery can feel exhausting as we try to push our way through triggers and the most challenging days. Sometimes, however, recovery is all about keeping life steady. You don’t feel overly joyous, but you don’t feel the strain of recovery. You may be wondering, “How do I accomplish this?” Through actively working a 12-Step program and staying engaged in your recovery, keeping life steady is always attainable.
Regularly Attending Meetings
Regular meeting attendance in a 12-Step program can always help you keep life steady. Of course, life can sometimes get in the way of the number of meetings you attend, but making a point to attend as many meetings as you can in a week can immensely help maintain your recovery. Meeting attendance allows you to keep in contact with other people struggling with addiction or alcoholism, talk about your experiences, and learn how others keep life in recovery steady.
Attending meetings regularly can also help you create a weekly schedule. You can plan which days you will attend meetings, as well as which ones you will attend. This schedule can help you maintain stability in your life and stay the course of sobriety.
Meeting attendance isn’t the only thing that helps keep sobriety steady, though. It is also important to share in these meetings. Sharing anything you may be going through, what life in sobriety looks like, and how you got here can help others help you.
Keeping in Contact With Others
Keeping in contact with others in the fellowship can significantly help you on your recovery journey. As the Big Book states, “…there exists among us a fellowship, a friendliness, and an understanding which is indescribably wonderful.” The people in the fellowship are there for you no matter what. Yes, keeping life steady usually means nothing is going on in your life that you are currently struggling with. However, keeping life steady can also mean you are going through something, but you now know how to handle it. Most of the time, knowing how to handle things come from others in the fellowship.
Talking with those around you can help you learn how to do this. Many of these people have been right where you are now. They know how to make life in recovery stay steady. They can help you. Keep in contact with these people and foster relationships so you can get the advice you need.
Keeping in contact with others in the fellowship also keeps you connected to the program. Staying connected to a 12-Step program can help you keep life steady and maintain sobriety. That connection can become one of the most important things in your recovery.
Engaging in the Twelve Steps
When in doubt, work on step work! Spending time engaged in the Twelve Steps can help you recognize where you came from and where you are now. This reminds you that life is not as bad as it once was, and this realization can help you remember to keep life steady.
The Twelve Steps also help keep us spiritually fit. Connecting with spirituality and a Higher Power helps us feel content in life. We can turn our will over to a Higher Power every morning when we wake up, helping remind us that we do not have to control everything. Life is out of our hands, and that is okay.
Regularly working the tenth step can also help us keep things in our life stable. The tenth step states we “continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.” Taking a personal inventory every night before bed can help you recognize what you are doing well and what you can work on tomorrow to help you stabilize your life in recovery.
Living Spiritual Principles
When you work the Twelve Steps, you gain an awareness of spiritual principles. The Twelve Steps outline numerous spiritual principles, including honesty, open-mindedness, willingness, humility, and courage. Living your life according to spiritual principles can help you keep your life steady in recovery. When we live a life that is spiritually fit, we know how to handle issues that arise. Even when we don’t, we get to learn. When we mess up, we can admit that. Living the spiritual principles of the program helps us become the people we have always wanted to be.
We all know recovery has its ups and downs. However, sometimes recovery isn’t about managing those ups and downs, but just about keeping life steady. Keeping life steady can mean we are currently not facing any pressing issues or have learned to deal with life’s problems accordingly. We can learn to keep life steady by continuing to engage in a 12-Step program. Regularly attending meetings, keeping in touch with others, working our step work, and living the spiritual principles can all help us on our journey. With the Twelve Steps, all is possible. If you are currently struggling in your recovery journey, Jaywalker Lodge is here to help. Jaywalker offers an addiction treatment continuum with a committed focus on the 12-Step philosophy and community integration. Our alumni also lend their support to a Jaywalker’s experience. They relate, offer guidance, and serve as examples of hope — a vital bridge towards a successful life in post-treatment recovery. To learn more, call (866) 529-9255 today.
As Chief Executive Officer Bill provides leadership and manage all day-to-day operations of Jaywalker Lodge, an extended care residential addiction treatment program for adult men.
