September is National Recovery Month. So, for today's #mentalhealthmonday, I want to talk about recovery. It's a sad truth that only roughly 10-15% of young adults who suffer with #substanceabuse receive treatment, from inpatient services to attending meetings like Alcoholics Anonymous. 

I've been sober from alcohol for almost 8.5 years now. My date is April 15, 2016, the day I walked out of Hennepin Co. Jail. There's a saying in those meetings that only "jails, institutions, and death" await the addict who refuses to get help. I'm grateful I got woken up without having hurt anyone. 

I went to meetings consistently for about a year and a half, and I can't stress the knowledge I gained from the readings and the systems I learned in those rooms. I still look back at my "Just For Today" book now and then, to see the meditation and remember what it was like to surrender myself to powerlessness. More importantly, it helps to remember how NOT alone I felt in those rooms, meeting other addicts wishing to free themselves from the grips of their vices. It was a collective process of trying to better ourselves, and it was so beautiful. 

Now I maintain and fight cravings by always remembering to play the tape:
-I have one, and then what?
-I have another one, and then what?
-I have too many, and then how many people do I hurt?
I play the tape to remind myself where that path inevitably leads, and how I never want to hit #rockbottom again. I find inspiration in sober friends, and in having relearned my sober mind and feelings, and living each day without regrets (and without hangovers). 

I'll never not be an addict, it's dangerous to think otherwise, but I am recovering.