March 15, 2018
Here at Park House Recovery, there so many reasons to go to recovery meetings, especially early in recovery.
Just as there are so many reasons to go to meetings, there are twice as many excuses NOT to go.
At least it seems that way to some people in early recovery.
Of course, the reason for this is the devious, controlling, addicted mind. Your addiction is always looking for a way to get control of you again.
Going to meetings is NOT what your addiction want’s.
Your addiction can feel a slow death emerging at recovery meetings, and will fight with you. Addiction prefers you to be all alone. When you are alone, you find it very hard to resist the urge not to go.
Even in the dark of night, when your fast asleep, addiction has been known to cry out.
When you live here, you have help with this struggle.
You will have recovering, sober roommates. Your companions can see your addiction in your eyes when you turn down their offer to go to a recovery meeting with them. They can tell it’s your addiction talking to them and they will say so.
Sometimes, no matter how much they plead, you refuse to go.
I have seen roommates offer to stay behind and keep them company, or, read out of the big book with them. Stories like this are the spirit of a Sober Living Home: “All for one and one for all.”
Why Meetings are so Important
Recovery meetings, weather it be AA, CA, NA, SMART Recovery, (ect) are essential for maintaining sobriety. There is a constant flow of shared stories that everyone can relate with in some way.
At meetings, there is a feeling of belonging and a sense of safety. You can get up in front of a group of people and tell your story just as it is, and not worry about being judged.
In his article, Dr.David Susman PhD writes about the “9 Benefits of Support Groups”
- Realizing you are not alone
- Expressing your feelings
- Learning helpful information
- Improved social skills
- Gaining hope
- Reducing distress
- Increased self-understanding
- Helping others
- Affordability\
Click here to read more about the “9 Benefits of Support Groups”
Sober Home House Meetings
Here At the Park House, Thousand Oaks Sober Living Home, our house meetings are even more intimate.
As time goes by, you get to know each other so well, that when you speak others will know exactly how to respond. This close connection, is so necessary, to the addict/alcoholic who has come from a world of isolation and despair.
Connecting with people again has a very positive and calming effect on newcomers to our recovery community.
In some of the recovery literature we read it states,
“Almost without exception, alcoholics are tortured by loneliness.” 12&12 Step Five, p.57
“Then he will know loneliness such as few do. “ BB A Vision For You, p.152
For many people who suffer from addiction and/or alcoholism, we seem to have much more in common than you would think. Again from the pages of the book that started the 12 step movement.
It reads –
“The feeling of having shared in a common peril is
one element in the powerful cement which binds us.” BB There Is A Solution, p.17
“To watch people recover, to see them help others, to watch loneliness vanish,
to see a fellowship grow up about you, to have a host of friends,
this is an experience you must not miss.” – BB Working With Others, p.89
Our house meetings allow us to gain fellowship and build a great sense of community.
The old adage, “There is strength in numbers” really takes on a new meaning in regards to who we are. Something unique to us is the fact that when we participate in recovery with others as a part of a greater whole, we take on a different attitude about our lives and our recovery.
