Few men come to treatment on a high note. Men who come to treatment for the first time or after a relapse are usually not talking about how great it was “out there” in the world of active using. Typically, they aren’t singing the praises of how manageable that life was, what a piece of cake it was to live chemically addicted to drugs and alcohol. At the bottom end of their addiction or alcoholism, they aren’t in good health or good spirits. Men don’t choose to come to treatment on a whim because recovery is something they’d like to try. Many a teetotaler has made the decision to convert to sobriety out of curiosity. Curiosity is not what brings a man struggling to survive without drugs and alcohol to treatment- desperation is. In recovery, desperation is often called a gift. Without a dash of desperation, a man living with addiction is prone to continue repeating his mistakes, because he isn’t desperate to change his ways. Addiction leaves a man desperate for his life to change because addiction doesn’t change in a positive way. Progressive and often fatal, addiction only gets worse, never better.
The bottom line about addiction is just that: it is a progressive and potentially fatal disease. Identifying with addiction as a ‘disease’ is controversial. Recovery is possible. Not only is recovery possible, life long recovery is possible. Though recovery is not fatal, it can be fatal to addiction. Following the lifestyle of recovery closely and thoroughly can end addiction for a lifetime. With the same persistence that a man chased drugs and alcohol, he has to chase his recovery. Unlike addiction which gets forever worse, recovery gets forever better. The logic is simple. Ongoing addiction results in more and more harmful chemicals being put into the body, which causes an exponential amount of problems. In contrast, ongoing recovery removes those harmful chemicals and replaces them with numerous practices which benefit the health of mind, body, and spirit. The bottom line about recovery is that it is also progressive. Addiction is progressive. Recovery is progressive. You can choose the direction of your life. Choose it today.
Tree House Recovery, a men’s addiction treatment facility in Portland, Oregon, offers residential treatment programs for long term care. Creating sustainable change, we help men find freedom from addiction. Call us today for information: (503) 850-2474
