The Power of Community

We are social creatures. It’s been said that our greatest needs are “to love and to be loved.” Unfortunately, a lot of damage is done when addiction takes priority over relationships. We often hear about consequences that have to do with legal problems, finances, and job loss. But perhaps no consequence is quite as profound as broken relationships. Recovery is a process of restoring relationships. Maybe that’s why the recovery community is so powerful. Roc & Doc talk more about the power of community in this latest episode.

There were times when broken or troubled relationships became an impetus for our drinking or using or eating or whatever. But that wasn’t all. We moved further and further away from others when behaviors became addictions. We had to hide to maintain those behaviors because deep inside we really did care what people thought about us. And the only way to stop caring, we thought, was to feed the addiction and further down — and out — we went.

An opposite dynamic is at work in recovery. We replace down and out with up and in. We experience the power of community. As we move further away from those days of active addiction, we find that broken relationships get mended. The more connected we are to our natural way of being, the easier it is to reject a fake way of being. In recovery, we become real again. Never so fake are we then when we are living under a bridge alone in the rain, whether literally or figuratively. Never so real are we then when we are home by the fire enjoying the heat of our loved ones. Recovery means regaining our birthright of connectedness. Recovery means to love and loving again.