For quite a long time, an addict does not have a good day. In fact, the addict may indeed, have forgotten what a good day even feels like. Their life has become a desperate back and forth of “gotta-get-it, got-it, gotta-get-it, got-it”, and time, has become one giant blended mess, of using and seeking to use.
The addict, will NEVER know a good “sober” day until they are both clean, and cleaned out, over an extended period of time. Holistic programs are in my opinion, the best and fastest way to empty out the garbage and replace the addict’s cup, with the clean person’s chalice.
Now, once an addict is clean, sober, sane, and sensible either again or for the first time, the days begin to separate, time begins to take on a form, and slowly, very slowly, the life of the addict begins to make sense, and eventually, they can begin to distinguish one day from the next.
Finally, we have come to the point, where the addict can have a good day. However, in this early, or really in any stage of recovery, a good day can turn into the WORST day of all! An addict is so familiar with being a screw-up, so used to people expecting him or her to fail, that their having a good day can quite nearly cause them (and certain of their family members) to go into anaphylactic shock on the spot.
“Hey mom, you will never guess what happened to me. I actually had a good day today…mom?”
Seriously, active addict and good day are NOT synonymous! Once, however the addict is under control then good days may begin to flow freely.
I have been sober for quite some time. And with complete honesty I can say, that the vast majority or my days are happy ones. Today, I do not even need to consider how to handle a good day, because most of them are, however when I was in my early sobriety, even the thought of having a good day was enough to scare the life out of me. And believe me, it did not matter, at all, what people said, how much they assured me of success, my anxiety shot right through the roof, and 98% guaranteed, by the end of the day, my sobriety had someway, somehow made it out the window!
Things did, however get better, and not even so slowly. The more meetings I went to (because those were my A.A. days) the better I felt, and I went to A LOT of meetings. Often, I made two meetings a day. The more quickly I emptied out the bad, the more quickly the good could come in, and so good days began rolling in rather quickly. Perhaps too quickly, in retrospect.
In the beginning, I had not had very many good days, and therefore, had barely the slightest idea how to handle them. Also, the beginning of anyone’s recovery is dangerous, because very quickly, they discover, much to their great relief, of course, that that actually know everything!!! Ah, sure. And yet this is unfortunately haw most of the, feel. So, combining good days rolling in quickly, mixed with a very early recovering addict who just happens to suddenly realize that they know everything, leaves you with an extremely (potentially) explosive situation. This type of situation is clearly not a good one. And if one happens to have chosen to deal with A.A. philosophy for the time being: Enter the wise and knowing Sponsor.
A good day is very scary for the newly recovering addict. However, it does get easier the longer one is sober. As I said today MOST of my days are good, and for this, I am very thankful indeed!
