Thirteen years on inpatient addictions units taught me a tremendous amount about addictions. I started in a detox where for six years we dealt with the ravages of addiction daily. We encountered just about everything: jaundice, esophageal varices and collapsed veins as well as cocaine psychosis, deep depression and substance-induced paranoid delusions. Day by day, we did our best to sell recovery to people badly in need of it. We warned patients that continuing to use would likely destroy their health, finances, relationships and careers. Addictions are life-threatening and nothing has brought that home more than opioid overdose deaths. Addictions to most substances, sooner or later will destroy your health, your finances, your relationships and your career. I know this not just as a clinician, but as someone who lived it. These losses motivated me to reach for a better life.

But I remember something crucial when I first accessed treatment. I felt hopeless and stripped of my dignity and self-respect. I felt stigmatized and without value. I desperately needed an infusion of hope as does every person battling addiction. I encourage you to think of the benefits of recovery and how your life will improve with it. Isn’t it more motivating to think of the benefits of recovery?

Consider that recovery will enable you to become the best version of yourself. The opportunity to be the person you were meant to be before addiction invaded your existence. Think of your addictive self as only reaching the cellar of your potential. Recovery will enable you to reach the ceiling, the very utmost. While addictions foster dependence on the substance as well as on other people, recovery fosters independence, both emotional and financial.

It is important to understand the perils of continuing to use, but I started to feel that our message was too negative, even if true. Our clients, already dealing with stigma, shame and decimated self-esteem due to the destructiveness of their addictions, needed a more positive message. Recovery isn’t merely abstinence; it’s a reinvention of life across four integral areas I’ve experienced in my own life, my practice and in countless recoveries: health, finances, relationships, and character.

Health

By end of my addictions, my health was precarious. I hated the way I looked, I was twenty-five pounds overweight, possessed a pasty, toxic-looking pallor and wheezed every time I climbed up a single flight of stairs. I was previously athletic but was now sedentary, smoking two packs of cigarettes, drinking and smoking cocaine daily. I hadn’t seen a doctor or a dentist in several years, my remaining teeth were in poor shape and at times a source of severe pain. I dreaded I’d done lasting damage to myself.

Recovery ended my self-destructive habits and presented the opportunity regain my health. I started with small but more healthy routines: regular meals, better sleep habits and exercise. I committed to medical and dental care. Bit by bit, my oral health improved. I started exercising regularly, my weight came down and before long, I quit smoking and lost my persistent hacking cough. I loved waking up without my head feeling bashed and the persistent nausea of hangovers. Decades later I still wake up with abundant energy, a positive mindset and excitement for the day ahead.

Finances

Financial stability was another casualty of my addiction. Cocaine completely detonated my resources and plunged me into around $20,000 in debt. Additionally, when I was about two years sober the IRS came after me for back taxes I hadn’t bothered to pay. For years, I lived paycheck to paycheck and was perpetually anxious about money. The breakthrough didn’t come immediately but it came. Recovery enabled me to go back to school, start a career and become financially stable and then comfortable and secure. It can do the same for you. Be patient, stick to your recovery and start to utilize your full potential. Eventually your finances will come around.

Relationships

The wake of my addictions is littered with relationships destroyed because I put alcohol and drugs first. I was good at finding love but could not keep it. I can’t think of any of my relationships that weren’t adversely affected by my addictions. Because I couldn’t stand on my own two feet. Because my invaded value system and insatiable desire to use made me manipulative, dishonest and wildly irresponsible. In recovery I rebuilt most of my damaged relationships and forged new ones that last. Today, I can bring the full measure of the best version of myself to all the people I love. I am honest and can keep my word, a thing I pride myself on.

Hope

The thousands of people I’ve known and treated who have gotten into recovery, not a single one has regretted it. As they rebuild their lives and commit to abstinence, they realize the many benefits. Recovery has given me a life I could not have imagined forty-one years ago. It’s not just about avoiding harm; it’s about choosing a future where health, independence, and meaningful connections are within reach for anyone willing to take that first step and stick with it. The life you’re seeking is here. But you to take it. Every day I marvel at the life I have and am immensely grateful for it. You can be too!