This past Saturday morning, I received a Facebook message from Dan, one of my high school friends. He wanted me to know that he had seen my posts over the years about my recovery path. Inspired by the postings, he resolved to quit drinking. Saturday was his five-year sobriety date.
Until that moment, I never knew the impact I had had on his life.
Stories like this one are legion among the recovery community. The realization that our lives touch so many others in so many ways is humbling. As we recover, we begin to unravel, understand, and attempt to remediate the negative ways our behavior touched others. And we marvel at the positive impact our recovery journey has on others.
I am a person in long-term recovery. For me, that means that I’m no longer the person I was when I was drinking. When I was that person, I spent—wasted, really—countless hours complaining about how life had dealt me a rotten hand, how I wasn’t getting the recognition I should, how I was a victim of so many perceived wrongs, and so on. Looking back at my 8 ½ year recovery journey, I have become someone who sets and achieves meaningful goals, cultivates and nourishes meaningful relationships, and is a steady and reliable friend.
In short, recovery has allowed me to change from someone I secretly loathed to someone I genuinely like. For me, the fruits of recovery include self-respect, self-love, self-knowledge, and, ultimately, inner peace.
Some days are still a struggle. The support of others in the recovery community continues to be a source of strength, wisdom, and healing. Getting sober was one of the best decisions I ever made. Knowing that I’ve contributed in some small way to another’s recovery journey is simultaneously humbling and exhilarating.
In the early days of my recovery, LCL provided me with peer support. My story is one of the thousands of lawyers, judges, and law students whom LCL has helped. My first interaction with LCL involved alcohol, but LCL helps with so much more! LCL helps and supports legal professionals and their families with any problem causing stress in their lives.
I’m living proof of LCL’s life-changing work.