BENEFITS:

~

We can wake up in the morning, read for a few minutes
in our meditation book, and feel lifted. We can work
a Step and often notice and immediate difference in the
way we feel and function. We can go to a meeting and
feel refreshed, talk to a friend and feel comforted,
or practice a new recovery behavior, such as dealing
with our feelings or doing something good for ourselves,
and feel relieved.

There are other benefits from recovery, though, that
we don't see immediately on a daily or even a monthly
basis. These are larger gains we make in our life.

Over the years, we can see tremendous rewards. We
can watch ourselves grow strong in faith.

We can watch the quality of our relationships improve
with family, friends, and spouses. We find ourselves
growing steadily and gradually in our capacity to be
intimate and close, to give and receive.

We can watch ourselves grow in our careers. In our
ability to be creative, powerful, productive people,
using our gifts and talents in a way that feels good
and benefits others.

The long-term progress is steady, but sometimes slow,
happening in increments and often with much forward
and backward movement. Enough days at a time of
practicing recovery behaviors and pilling up
short-term gains leads to long-term rewards.