What is Recovery? (Transcript)
How are you doing I’m Kevin O’Hara for alcohol mastery and today’s question is:
What is recovery?
So in my opinion recovery is a condition that you will be in if you accept that you are a complete alcoholic, that you’ve got a disease called alcoholism that is incurable or that you’ve got a genetic heritage. That it’s your parents fault, it’s in your genes and you just can’t get away from it.
If you accept that its part of your growing up, and it’s just a part of your culture and you’re never going to get away from it, that’s just who you are.
If you blame your alcoholism on somebody else or something else or just say that you can’t help it, that’s what your going to be in for the rest of your life, this recovery, this cycle of drinking and stopping drinking, and drinking, stopping drinking.
Quit To Quit
In order to quit drinking you have to quit.
You have to say it’s just not going to happen anymore, regardless of what else happens in my life, there’s just going to be no more alcohol poured between these lips.
When you do that there is no such thing as recovery.
Recovery is just one of those words that I used for the time when you’re… when you have stopped quitting that actually keep you in the loop, keep you in this alcohol loop.
Still Recovering After 20 Years
It’s the same as saying 20 years after you’ve quit drinking that you’re still an alcoholic. There’s still people, after 20 years when they haven’t drunk anything that will say, well I’m still in recovery.
To me, recovery is about recovering my self respect and my dignity.
It’s about getting back the life that… not that I used to have but, the life that I gave up by drinking. The life that I put on the wayside because I preferred to have a drink and get pissed every night, and be out of it instead of enjoying life.
So that’s my definition of recovery.
My Old Need To Drink
My reality is that I used to drink, a lot. And now I don’t.
It’s as pure and simple as that. Drink becomes a part of you, the process of drinking, not the alcohol, but that process of drinking alcohol, over drinking alcohol, going to bed, crashing, getting up, and
doing it all again – the cycle.
You do that so long that it becomes a general part of who you are.
When you stop you have to get away from that, your body has no choice but to get away from that and the recovery is that, your bodies’ adjustment. The symptoms and the cravings are just your body adjusting to the fact that there is no more alcohol going into your body.
That you’re not actually going to the pub every night, or your not cracking open up a bottle of wine every night, or a bottle of poison every night.
Maybe your body is thinking ‘Christ, is this really it, is this over, has the poison stopped entering my system? Whoohooo, thank God’.
The Discomfort Is There To Help You
Like I said before, just take the symptoms and the cravings as your body just getting back to its normal self, getting back to the way it should be, that would be if you’d never had a drink, if you’d never touched a drop of alcohol.
This is the way that your body is trying to get back to that, to that level. Whether or not we can truly get back to that level is another thing, but I think the remarkable human body will always, always try to get to that optimum level.
Just remember that it’s simple to stop drinking. You just simply don’t put any alcohol into your mouth.
Until next time, my names Kevin O’Hara for alcohol mastery.
Onwards and upwards.
Previous Posts That May Help You
Does Alcohol Alter Your Mood?
Cheers! Drinking DOES Release the Feel-Good Factor In Our Brains
Everything is Connected to Everything Else
Outside Links
Alcohol Mastery TV on YouTube
Alcohol Mastery Shorts on YouTube
Alcohol Mastery on Facebook
Alcohol Mastery on Twitter
Good one Kevin! I love the humour. Do you notice the difference when you watch your first video & the ones you make now? I was the same serious, depressed person when I quit drinking. We loathe ourselves at that point. I have slipped a bit but now, all is well, and the happiness cannot be contained. Thank you so much for the good these videos give everyone xx
Hey Joyce, yeah a big difference in so many ways. I’d recommend it to anyone, make a video and store it away somewhere safe. Take a look after 6 months and you’ll notice big differences.
All the best
Kev
Hi Kevin! I wrote you a few weeks ago explaining my fine wine and champagne enjoyment…. You wrote me back that many sommeliers don’t know their right from their left anymore… Pretty funny. 🙂
I just wanted to share with you I am in a trofology wellness clinic in Sayulita Nayarit Mexico right now. Their method is to clean your entire body and especially the liver through juices, tonics and only chewable food twice a day. In the orning fruit, inthe enevening vegetables. Steam baths, edemas (ufff) and Chicün on the beach, yoga and magnet therapy. It has been wonderful and your blog helps keep my motivation up! Thank you.
I wanted to send a picture but it won’t “paste” in this space.
Take care y mil mil gracias desde Mexico con cariño,
Annette
Sounds great Mariposa. I’d love to see a pic, you can send it to kevin@alcoholmastery.com . And I’m very jealous by the way, except for the enema’s… But everything else sounds wonderful!
De nada,
Kev
I love this one and the way you define recovery Kevin. The “lingo” we use to define ourselves can definitely entrap us into a vicious cycle of perpetually being victims. It’s exhausting, I know this first hand.
Thank you for what you do and your common sense approach to “giving up the drink” as you put it.