The Pace of Recovery

Today I am grateful for how it feels AFTER hill repeats are done. I am also grateful that we are able to help my stepdaughter Emily with her son Leo, and for my mother-in-law Marlene's visit.

The pace of nature isn't the only one that relies on patience. Patience is also needed when pacing oneself in recovery. That recovery could be from a recent surgery or sports injury, or it could be from active addiction.

Patience is not necessarily one of my strong suits, but experience has taught me just how well it can work. Even when I want to rush post-surgery or post-injury recuperation, I know now that the best thing is rest, time, following medical advice, and incremental improvement. Too often, I hear about people doing too much too soon and regretting it. Patience in healing. Our bodies deserve it.

The patience it takes to grow in recovery from alcoholism and other addictions is a different kind of patience. There's a reason why a common mantra among people in recovery is "One day at a time." It took most of us years to hit bottom, to get to the point where we surrendered enough to let help in.

We can't recover from years of use and abuse, and broken thinking, in a matter of weeks or months. It takes time to learn to live and think differently. Those gradual lessons are the ones that make all the difference and allow recovery to continue.

Patience and acceptance help set a good pace for today.