The Recovery Cheerleader

Submitted by: Amy Cooper

I found the true meaning of recovery as soon as I arrived at my current job. I work at a recovery center in Destin where I now see recovery clearly. I see patients arrive who don’t know about true recovery, but think they do know.

I see them “get the sparkles” through their fourth and fifth steps, and I watch those people radically change for the better. Their whole appearance changes once the hope of a sober, happy, joyous, and free life becomes real to them.

I worked in addiction treatment in the past, but I worked in a place where they didn’t emphasize 12-Step treatment, so people did gain some insight, but they walked away without the life-long support system that comes with the twelve steps. Now, I am the biggest proponent of 12-Step fellowship recovery out there.

I call myself “The Recovery Cheerleader” and that’s what I am. I rally and take the message and lay it at the feet of other people and say, “Here it is!” But people have to open up that gift box. It’s not always wrapped up in an attractive way when we give it to you in treatment, but you have to open it and begin using it. The gift is a life that’s awesome, all wrapped up in a pre-packaged present that is sometimes difficult to open.

One of the biggest obstacles I had to overcome was that I tried to speak on behalf of others too often. I eventually realized that I could not carry other people in their recovery. I have to let others “walk the walk” themselves. I can’t be responsible for other people’s recovery choices. I cannot value my success based upon the outcome of other people.

Today, I begin each day in prayer on my drive to work (which is way too long). My drive used to take me only 15 minutes. Now, I drive an hour each way to and from work. I think that my long commute came as a message from God to spend more time in prayer. Now, I spend a lot of time preparing myself for the day. You (readers) know how we all do the best we can. I pray for God to help me represent the higher power and not get flooded by the defeat of others, because it’s not my defeat.

Since I have been in my job, I have had those grief-filled moments when we lose someone to the disease, or when someone goes back out and uses (or worse). With God’s help, I’ve been able to keep going and I’ve been able to use those moments as a motivator to keep battling this disease in the world.

Our little victories in recovery keep us and sustain us, and offer us all more momentum against this disease. Sometimes I feel like we are in a war and we throw little suction darts out every day, hoping to pull people to safety. Sometimes recovery sticks, and sometimes it just falls to the ground—but we don’t stop trying.

Our conference room has a large work of art that was once a vision in my heart. This painting shows a big picture of  heart that is transforming. To me, it shows that we all begin on one big wall of recovery—a wall that begins with dark colors and blackness. That wall has a path from left to right—a pass-through. We don’t see light at the beginning of our journey; we are often very hopeless. Along the winding path, we cross twelve lanterns that represent the 12 steps. As we progress on the journey, things get brighter. At the end, we can be comforted with the light and peace.

There is also a well-known quote from Lao Tzu that reads, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”