Good Day
“Just waking up in the morning, gotta thank God. I don’t know, but today seems kind of odd.” These words are spoken at the beginning of an Ice Cube song, “It Was a Good Day,” where he describes a very unordinary day for himself, a day where everything seems to go right. Many times, people in recovery run into this once they make changes in their lives, which helps lead to the types of good days when everything seems to just fall into place. On these good days, people in recovery may experience things that differ greatly from what is mentioned in the song, but their days will rival how good that day was in the eye of the beholder.
A main reason for the improvements in the quality of life for those in recovery is that the person no longer has the addiction to help him shoot himself in the foot. Addiction has such an overwhelmingly negative effect on such a large number of things that it can be uncommon for anything to go right for the addict. Addiction will affect a person’s mood, relationships, work, legal situation, and health, among other things. When the addiction and its negative consequences are taken out of the equation, the person in recovery usually sees improvements in all of these areas. As The Big Book says, “Everybody knows that those in bad health and those who seldom play do not laugh much. So let each family play together or separately, as much as their circumstances warrant. We are sure God wants us to be happy, joyous and free.” Imagine the potential for improvement in your quality of life if you take most of your self-inflicted pains out of the equation.
An aspect of recovery that most people don’t think of is how much fun it can be. I type this with a very sore shoulder from a sober night of bowling with people both in recovery and not in recovery. There are lots of enjoyable activities that can be specific to people in recovery, such as hosting recovery meetings or events or helping another person who is struggling with an addiction. The Big Book describes it by saying, “Though they knew they must help other alcoholics if they would remain sober, that motive became secondary. It was transcended by the happiness they found in giving themselves for others.” Helping another person not only helps to get the focus off of one’s self, but it is enjoyable to see others grow and experience joy due to the help one provides. Similar activities that are not specific to people in recovery can include working with church groups, The Salvation Army, Best Buddies International, or non-volunteer activities. We have hosted bowling nights, trivia nights, corn hole tournaments, cook outs, and numerous races that lots of people both in recovery and not in recovery have enjoyed. Everything can be much more enjoyable when a person can focus on that event, rather than when that next drink or drug is coming.
This brings me to a topic I want to put up for discussion. For people in recovery, what events do you now enjoy while in recovery that you did not enjoy before? Why do you think that is the case?