Keeping On

A newer client came to my office and said he felt like relapsing. He was depressed because a manager he looked up to had relapsed - and took company money with him when he left.  The client wasn't sure recovery worked if someone he had put on a pedestal had relapsed.

I explained that I'd gone through the same thing in early recovery. I was living in a local halfway house when one of my roommates didn't return one night. He'd been there for several months longer than I and was one of my role models because he'd been sober so long. We'd spent hours talking recovery.

And like this client, my whole foundation was rocked. When a man I really admired relapsed how could someone with my inexperience possibly stay sober? So I took it to my sponsor and he set me straight.

He used an analogy that likened recovery to being in a war. He said when we're fighting the enemy, and one of our fellow soldiers is wounded, we try to help. But if we can't help, then we move on and try to save ourselves. We move onward.

I shared this analogy with our client because it helped me.  Our client agreed he couldn't help the manager who'd left. He could only help himself by following 12-step recovery principles.

As long as we work - they work