Heroes in Recovery Journey Box
As children, many of us collected keepsakes to hold onto the memories that remind us of an important time, event or person in our lives. It could be a toy, a letter from a pen pal, vacation mementos or a picture of family or friends. It was important to have a special place to store our keepsakes, so that when we needed to be reminded of those memories, we could go right to them. I kept mine in one of my Dad’s empty shoeboxes.
The Heroes in Recovery movement also has a box. This box is a “Journey Box” that can be filled with things that represent an individual’s recovery journey. It is a physical place to store tangible reminders of what you now carry in your heart and know to be important or significant moments of your recovery. No two boxes will be the same. We may share recovery as common ground, but what we are recovering from, the things that impact and motivate us and how long we have been on our journey are all personal things. This is our own story.
With that in mind, what might you put in the box? This answer will be as varied as our personalities and as common as the things we share. Some examples might be: the first chip you received at a 12-step meeting, the big book, the words to a song or poem, a traffic ticket, a funeral program, educational material, 12-step literature, a church program, car keys, a hospital bracelet, your own writing, positive affirmations, a gratitude journal or a counselor’s business card. The list can be unending, and what you put in the box may change as your time in recovery grows and your life unfolds.
The boxes were given to all the advocates for the HIR movement when we started the mission of removing the stigma of addiction. We needed to know our story before we could share anyone else’s. The boxes are also presented to graduates of treatment programs as a reminder of how they have grown and what they have courageously overcome to be in recovery. I believe the three most important ways I can put my box to its best use is to place physical evidence in it that reminds me of my moments of GRACE, GROWTH and GRATITUDE. Most importantly, the journey box is a way to keep me grounded in my truth.