I Can Be Anything Today
I love staying healthy and fit in my recovery life. Around me are many great people, lots of them in early recovery, and when I approach them to get off the couch and away from TV I get almost always the same answer: I’m not a runner! You know what? Me neither! I run and walk slower than a stampede of turtles in peanut butter, but I try! With every step I make I lap a person on the couch. Every mile I make on the treadmill gets me closer to my goal of being a healthy human being. During cross-training I look like I’m dying on the floor mat, but every breath I take is a good one. It is like everything in my recovery: progress, not perfection!
During early times of recovery I used to say things like “I’m not a runner”, but in recent years I have found out that I can be anything today that I’d like to be. To be a runner does not mean to be fast or do marathons, it just means that I run. It doesn’t even mean that I have to enjoy doing it. You better believe that on some crispy cold winter mornings it takes everything I have to leave my warm bed and the cozy warm house to find my way to the gym. And on hot summer days it’s a real torture sometimes to get out in the heat instead of enjoying my beautiful air-conditioned four walls. I just do it because I can and it’s worth it.
Before I found recovery I thought, “I can’t live in sobriety.” Then magic happened and I could, and still can. I said some years ago, “I’m not a sailor,” but I learned how and sail in races today. As I came to the United States I was scared of guns and could not discharge any firearm, because I was not a shooter. Today I love shooting in a club on weekends and I go hunting. There are so many things that I thought that I was not, but I learned with my recovery that today I really can be anything I want to be. I only have to have the willingness to try it, to give some effort into it and learn the skills that are needed to practice it successfully. I did this for my sobriety and I do it today for my fitness and my health. I don’t have to enjoy certain things, but I do them because they are good for me.
The best thing about this change in my attitude is that I don’t demand perfectionism anymore from myself. I’m okay to do just three miles on the treadmill if my neighbor does five and I eat French fries when I have an appetite for them. I am a smoker, too, and I love chocolate and ice cream. But I’m open minded and willing today to do certain things towards a healthier me and give many new things a try. Every move I make towards a better health is a good one; there is no minimum requirement at a gym or in any sports. A friend of mine is a karate champion and a kick-boxer who opened a new studio in my hometown. Never before I had any desire to learn any martial arts, but within the next weeks I will drop in there and take a few classes with him and see if I like it or not. To say ‘I’m not a kick-boxer’ would maybe deprive me of a wonderful new experience I never had.
Being in recovery can open new doors to ideas and job opportunities. Don’t stay where you are. I’m not a tree, I can move today. I can move towards my goals. If you feel like it, go back to school, do special training for certain certificates and send applications to your dream position, even if you still lack some experience. If you have a goal or dream, you can be anything you like. There is often some work and sweat involved to get there, but with the right dedication anything is possible.
Give recovery a try. If you are not there yet, you may love it just as I do. And please don’t say that you are not a runner, you can be anything you want in your new life in recovery, unless any medical issues are holding you back from certain activities. Most fitness places offer a one-week free trial membership, check it out. And come to one of our 6K’s for recovery. If your physical condition doesn’t allow you a run over this distance, you can walk it. We had grandmas over 70 walk it and mothers pushing strollers, so can you! Join us at one of our Heroes in Recovery 6k Run/Walk events and take a medal home. Put it beside your 12-step coin to remind you, that you can be anything you like in recovery. Our medals are a symbol of accomplishment for those who are able to go the extra distance, just like you did as you made it into recovery. A 6K-walk is just like a detox, no fun walk in the park, no piece of cake, but anybody can manage it with some effort. Get your medal this year and join our family of ‘Heroes in Recovery’, you are one! Bring your fellowship friends for a day of fun, walk, laughter and reaching a goal together in recovery. Make the 6K a meeting point for your online friends in recovery to finally see each other face-to-face and have a nice group experience of encouragement and empowerment. I hope I meet you there!
Tell me, please, which new hobbies, new sports, arts, education or experiences have you made since you are in recovery? Or which ones you would like to make? I would love to live and work a complete season in a ski resort. Will I ever make it? I don’t know, depends how much effort I put into it, but I know that I could!
Please leave a reply below and tell me about yours please.
Susanne