Recovered recovering who cares? How about a great life off of drugs and alcohol!

Listen, this debate where one person says they are "recovering" and another says they are "recovered" from addiction is simply another distraction away from what needs to be the attention.......

We are off of drugs and alcohol!!!!  How about just focusing on that amazing tidbit of information.  There is no disputing the fact that when we stop using drugs and stop drinking alcohol (oh no, I separated alcohol from drugs, I will hear about that too) our lives improve dramatically.   We stop going to jail, stop getting pulled over, our families let us back in, we get jobs, we go to school, we attain amazing careers, finances improve, relationships improve ad infinitum!  I could go on and on about all the amazing things that happen when we do either.....are in recovery OR are recovered.  So does it matter what we choose to say?  Does it really?

Shoot, let's keep going and discuss this ridiculous notion that you HAVE to get off drugs and alcohol by doing "this" or "that" and if you don't you are doomed for failure.  What am I alluding too?  I am alluding to those who choose to utilize AA or NA or any other program and then preach to others in a way that suggests that they BETTER do it this way or else.......or else you will eventually go back to use and be doomed for failure.  A lot of times this message is not direct, but it speaks loudly through the words used, and looks given. Through the back room talk about how someone "stopped going to meetings, so they MUST be using" conversations that happen all to frequently.  It happens when a person chooses to do other great things to live life without drugs and alcohol that don't include a twelve step program and they are ostracized from whole social circles simply because they don't go to an hour or hour and half long meeting once of a week, twice a week, or for some peoples belief, everyday.   This is a very twisted message to send to someone who is told in the early days of recovery "we are here for you" "you are accepted here" "we are here for you 24/7", then later when the person get's a great life, a job/career, family, hobbies, and they discontinue the meeting attendance they are no longer welcomed in the same way they were in the early days.   When they are seen in the community it is like you have done something wrong........"are you ok? (with a look at what you are carrying in your basket at the store).....the mere assumption is that you MUST be using or drinking.  Ridiculous. 

I am happy to support whatever each individual chooses to do to remain off drugs and alcohol.  Look at the research I say, good research is indisputable.   The research shows clearly that many many people simply stop.  That's right, just stop, and change their lives for the better.  No treatment, no AA, NA, Smart Recovery, or church.   They stop using drugs and get busy living life.   Yes, it IS possible, and isn't any less a life then those who do it differently.

We MUST stop separating ourselves as one way or the other.  We MUST be all inclusive in ALL ways.    Period.