Dear Hope Nation,
As some of you know—but all of you should!—Hope now has 14 in-person all-recovery meetings a week, at noon each day in the back parking lot behind the Hope building, and at 6 pm at Derryfield Park by the gazebo. I’ve been doing some of these meetings myself, and have really enjoyed meeting new folks in early recovery, which has always been my favorite part of being at Hope. Many newcomers have never heard the kind of wisdom and knowledge that gets dropped at recovery meetings. To bring them up to speed, and to remind some of us who have been around a while, here are some bits of insight on recovery, reoccurrences (relapses) and life with a purpose other than filling that void within.
I Understood Myself Only After I Destroyed Myself. And Only In The Process Of Fixing Myself, Did I Know Who I Really Was.–Anonymous
I Am Not Defined By My Relapses, But By My Decision To Remain In Recovery Despite Them.–Anonymous
Recovery Is An Acceptance That Your Life Is In Shambles And You Have To Change.–Anonymous
Recovery Didn’t Open The Gates Of Heaven And Let Me In. Recovery Opened The Gates Of Hell And Let Me Out!–Anonymous
It’s not the drugs that make a drug addict. It’s the need to escape reality.” — Unknown
“Addiction begins with the hope that something ‘out there’ can instantly fill up the emptiness inside.” — Jean Kilbourne
“Addictions started out like magical pets, pocket monsters. They did extraordinary tricks, showed you things you hadn’t seen, were fun. But came, through some gradual dire alchemy, to make decisions for you. Eventually, they were making your most crucial life decisions. And they were less intelligent than goldfish.” — William Gibson
“At every stage, addiction is driven by one of the most powerful, mysterious, and vital forces of human existence. What drives addiction is longing — a longing not just of brain, belly or loin, but finally of the heart.” — Cornelius Platinga
“Addiction is the only prison where the locks are on the inside.” — Unknown
“Addiction – when you can give up something any time, as long as it’s next Tuesday.” — Nikki Sixx
“At first, addiction is maintained by pleasure, but the intensity of the pleasure gradually diminishes and the addiction is then maintained by the avoidance of pain.” — Frank Tallis
“We don’t choose to be addicted; what we choose to do is deny our pain.” — Unknown
Quitting smoking is easy. I’ve done it a hundred times.” — Mark Twain
“Addiction is just a way of trying to get at something else. Something bigger. Call it transcendence if you want, but it’s a rat in a maze. We all want the same thing. We all have this hole. The thing you want offers relief, but it’s a trap.” — Tess Callahan
“I didn’t even know I was addicted until I tried to stop.” — Unknown
“The priority of any addict is to anaesthetize the pain of living to ease the passage of day with some purchased relief.” — Russell Brand
“Imagine trying to live without air. Now imagine something worse.” — Amy Reed
“Addiction: the disease that makes you too selfish to see the havoc that you created or care about the people whose lives you shattered.” — Unknown
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” — Chinese Proverb
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” — Theodore Roosevelt
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” — Carl Bard
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” — Nelson Mandela
“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” — Henry Ford
“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” — Helen Keller
“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” — Robert Collier
“Fall seven times, stand up eight.” — Japanese Proverb
“If you hear a voice within you say, ‘you cannot paint’, then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.” — Vincent Van Gogh
“The best way out is always through.” — Robert Frost
“When you can stop, you don’t want to, and when you to stop, you can’t.” — Luke Davies
“If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking.”– Zen proverb
“Nobody stays recovered unless the life they have created is more rewarding and satisfying than the one they left behind.”– Anne Fletcher
You matter. I matter. We matter.
Keith