Thought for the Week

Timothy D. Stein, MFT, CSAT

December 5, 2016

“Meaning is not what you start with, but what you end up with.” -Peter Elbow

Sometimes we just want to get from point A to point B.  In recovery, this can be experienced as focusing on just getting sober.  However, a focus on sobriety without deeper meaning sets you on the path to becoming a “dry drunk”; someone who is sober but whose life remains as chaotic as it has ever been.  The “meaning” of recovery is not found by being sober but by being present during the process of creating sobriety; it is not arriving at point B that allows us to find meaning but the culmination of growth and change that comes during the journey.

What have been the consequences when I focused only on sobriety?  Would I have had a different outcome if I consciously stayed present to the larger experience?  What gifts await me as I open myself to the meaning found in the journey?