What does the path to recovery look like? I like to conceptualize it as a process, not a destination. During the course of treatment, it is anticipated that there may be times when progress is stalled, or even reversed as set-backs are faced and hurdles are numerous. Ideally, we’d like to think of treatment as a steady progression toward the goal. Yet that is not realistic. Going a few steps backwards may be difficult and frustrating, yet it also can provide valuable learning and growth opportunities as long as you are still facing forward. By facing forward, I mean that you are focused on getting better, improving your life, and achieving a better place for yourself. It’s when you turn your back on trying to get to that better place that significant problems can arise.
There’s a quote by Vincent van Gogh that seems to speak to this lesson:
Our greatest glory consists not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall.