Freedom
Freedom is defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary as: “Liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another.” What do you think of when you hear the word “freedom?” A teenager may think of freedom as being able to stay up as late as he wants when he leaves his parents’ home for college. An unhappily married person may think of freedom as the ability to go out with friends after work or walk around the house in his underwear when his wife goes out of town or the divorce is final. A person’s view of freedom will vary depending on his background or perspective.
I was recently inspired to think of freedom as it relates to addiction and recovery. When someone thinks of sobriety, he normally thinks of limitations and not about freedom. He thinks about the things he likes to do (drink, drugs, party, etc.) and that he won’t be able to do them anymore. He thinks of sobriety as being something that will turn him into a slave to recovery meetings and coffee. The opposite is true when someone in recovery thinks about sobriety. He probably thinks about all the wonderful doors that have been opened because of his sobriety and the dreadful maze of addiction he has quit stumbling through.
As I think about freedom as it relates to addiction and recovery, I think back to what life was like before I got into recovery. I remember that I knew I NEEDED to quit drinking. The problem was that I didn’t WANT to quit drinking. I wanted to want to quit. There was a big gap between what I wanted myself to want and what I wanted in reality. I recognized the need but still didn’t have the desire. Despite all of the problems I had caused for myself, I still wanted to continue walking in that ridiculous maze that I had been wandering in for years! I truly felt like I was a slave to my addiction but would never admit that fact or make progress towards recovery. The only thing that was able to free me from those chains was the power of a loving and merciful God that took me from slavery to my addiction to recovery for that addiction.
My view of freedom has changed a bit now that I have been in recovery for a while. I still think of Mel Gibson screaming, “FREEEEEDOOOOMM,” in the movie Braveheart when the topic is brought up. But I also think of the freedom I now have in my own life. The freedom I enjoy today allows me to not be tied to a bar on a Friday or Saturday night and then tied to a bed with a hangover for half of the next day. I am now free to enjoy new things that I never would have experienced if things continued the way they were. Freedom and how it relates to recovery is a topic that can be examined from many different angles. A person can view how recovery helped him regain his freedom because he quit being incarcerated due to drugs or alcohol. A person could also look at how recovery helped him become free from a bad relationship or a bad career that he couldn’t get out of due to his addiction.
What do you think of when you think of freedom and addiction or freedom and recovery?