By Lee Yaiva,
CEO Scottsdale Recovery Center
Welcome to Recovery Month! This month brings awareness into focus, advocates for change and celebrates the nation’s strong recovery community. It supports the evolution of change and promotes the opportunity for those struggling with alcohol and substances to improve their life. Substance use is not an isolated event, it affects the entire family and communities. Full dimensional wellness is an acquired through accessibility to knowledge and information. The barriers to living out one’s full potential are inhibited by lack of knowledge. By using resources, individuals and families have access to valuable support that is available.
Recovery Month closes the chasm many may have fallen through time and again, due to addiction. Some people may want to navigate the recovery process alone due to burned bridges, shame, or self-determination. Recovery Month elevates the voice of change, so it may echo across the hearts and minds of anyone who needs help.
Recovery provides the opportunity to reclaim our life and recover what has been relinquished from addiction. Rather than be a victim, it offers us empowerment — turning pain into power, tragedy to triumph and victimization to victory. “Loss” is an antiquated thought and allows the individual to remain in victim mode. We were very conscious of what we were doing, and that internal conflict is what brings about guilt and shame. This is why I believe it is called Recovery Month and not Sobriety Month. “Sober” means “not drunk, solemn, somber, sedate or staid” amongst other definitions.
Recovery prompts an initiative-taking approach to change, elevating the quality of life helping us navigate the recovery process. The very fact these words are being written is a result of Recovery Month, and in direct alignment with its intended purpose.
Scottsdale RECOVERY Center is a huge advocate of recovery because we recognize and understand the distinction. Sobriety is abstinence based; however, we teach an individual how to recover and reclaim their identity, pride, dignity and self-respect, elevating self-worth with every interaction. “We’ll love you until you learn to love yourself” is spoken in a dialect that transcends fear and uncertainty and establishes trust and rapport. We support an individual’s process, not “the” process, as they recover the trust and respect of family, friends, and more importantly, themselves, which is paramount.
It’s 30 days of consistent messaging and brand recognition. 30 days of awareness. 30 days of an opportunity to enact change. 30 days to embrace the opportunity to recover. 30 days to exercise an individual’s right to reclaim what rightfully belongs to them and create momentum to celebrate the victory that is RECOVERY! Recovery Month is the foundation to celebrate a life free from the behavior associated with substance use. A life free from bondage. A life that should be celebrated, not just during Recovery Month, but a celebration that transcends the 30-day time period and becomes perpetual. An annual cycle of repetition that brings an abundance of joy, happiness, and content. A measured and calculated goal met with consistency and maintenance stemming from a month whose number symbolizes “completion and a fulfilling life’s journey.”
By Lee Yaiva,
CEO Scottsdale Recovery Center
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