When people are first starting to work on recovery it is typical for them to feel frustrated.  By the time someone actually starts to work on recovery they have been suffering for some time already.  So it is understandable that they want to stop the suffering as soon as possible.  So when they start working on creating a recovery, and they don’t feel a big improvement right away they get frustrated.  It is important for people to keep up the effort and trust that they will reap the rewards.

On a day to day basis, there may not be a noticeable change in how we feel.  All too often days and weeks can go by and we feel “stuck”.  It seems that the effort we are putting out is not doing anything to change our situation.

Trust that your effort in creating recovery is doing something.  Something very profound.

What happens is that even when some change is created, we will not even notice it.  We become so focused on our suffering, and the anticipation for more suffering, that we usually do not see the change that has already started happening.

When our effort starts to create change, it comes in small changes.  These small changes are easily missed while we are still focused on our suffering.

I am often reminded of the teaching of water cutting through a stone.  “A slow, steady drip will eventually cut a hole in a stone”.  This is a great lesson to help demonstrate our journey of recovery.  In the beginning, the stone will show no effects from the water.  It may take months for water to even start leaving noticeable indentations on the stone.  But it’s there.  Even if we cannot see it, change has already begun happening.

We are like stone, and our effort is like water.  Our recovery is dependent on the effort to steadily forge the change we seek.

Each day put in the effort to create change.  Do not look for anything in return.  Do not expect to see some change day to day.  Trust me that the change is happening, despite not seeing it, it is happening.

As recovery really starts to take hold, little by little you will start to notice that things are no longer as they were.  Things will seem different in some way.  It is at this point that you will begin to see the return on your investment of effort.  Naturally seeing this and realizing that “something” positive is happening will motivate you to continue and to push your effort even further.

Once I was asked by a friend who knew my journey, “how did you manage to recover”?  My response was one word, “persistence”.  I refused to give up.  No matter how bad things were, I kept pushing forward with the effort.  At times I didn’t understand the journey, but I kept doing what my counselor had taught me, and eventually, I found my way.

I have used many analogies over the years to demonstrate how we have to keep pushing forward, even when we do not where we are going, to just keep “trying”.  So I will leave you with this, “Because we cannot see the finish the line, does not mean that we stop running.”