Recover Out Loud

Thursday, I attended the lunch and learn session of the Georgia Addiction Recovery Awareness Day activities with friends from Navigate Recovery Gwinnett and hundreds of others. It was awesome to hear views and good news from state legislators, a Gwinnett County judge and advocacy group members that spoke. The key points were about positive messaging, eliminating the stigma+shame, and reaching out.

One of the speakers suggested to reach out to five people: friends, community, local officials, state legislators, and federal legislators. Because there are so may people in active addiction or who have a loved one in active addiction, simply recovering out loud may draw someone to you seeking help. The emphasis was on not necessarily sharing about the ugliness that happened during active addiction, or the support groups that you are involved in, but on sharing the positiveness of life in recovery. Sharing the hope that recovery is possible.

So I proudly wore the free button/pin given out and later attached it to my backpack that I take to work. And I posted on Facebook that I was present for the event. And guess what? Within an hour or so of posting on Facebook an acquaintance sent me a private message asking for advice on how to help a loved one struggling with sobriety. I am grateful that I could take time off from work to attend this event, which helped me drop the guilt and shame in order to be of service to others.

Recovery definitely doesn't suck!