This post was written by Thomas B. Allman, MA, LMHC, LCAC, Vice President of Addiction Services, Park Center, Parkview Behavioral Health Institute.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. –  Serenity Prayer

These words are often thought, said, ignored and lived by many around you. You are not alone. Today these words may mean something different. Something is stirring inside of you. You are seeking something different today. Today you come to a fork in the road, a crossroad, a decision. Today you choose to go to a place where you have not been in a long time or a place you forgot how to get to. 

What is the place you seek? Sobriety.

You remember a time when you laughed and cried. You lived and enjoyed the blue sky, the birds chirping and the green grass. Perhaps you love the colder seasons and the sparkling of snowflakes when light hits them at just the right moment. All of these things and more you miss and want back. You realize you will have to battle your addiction to reclaim your life and become a survivor of addiction. 

Today millions of people have addiction and struggle with feeling ashamed. You are not alone.

Substance use disorder is a brain disease that can be curable if treated. Like cancer can go into remission, so can the substance use disorder. Just as cancer can be fatal if not treated, substance use disorder can also be fatal if not treated. Today you choose to live and become a survivor of substance use disorder.

“But what do I do?” you ask. 

You must find a sense of peace in knowing there are things that you are not able to change. It’s sometimes a struggle to focus on yourself instead of focusing on other people, other places and other things. Fight against distraction and focus on your recovery, day by day. Focus on the changes you need to make for yourself.

You must have the courage to change the things in your life – that you are able to – that provoke the disease. The science and understanding of addiction have come so far, but sometimes keeping it simple is the best approach, especially early in your recovery.

What can you change? What can you control? 

• The people you hang around. Do the people you spend time with want you to be sober? 
• Places you go. Are the places you go places where you drink or use some other drug?
• Things you have. Do you surround yourself with things that remind you of using?

Finally, achieving the wisdom to know the difference between what you can and can not change is key to the recovery process. Wisdom is among the most difficult of traits to develop. People pursue wisdom their entire life. Day by day, the individual has to choose to pursue wisdom. It’s the daily pursuit of wisdom that leads to a focus on spiritual, emotional, physical, intellectual, financial and social health.

First and foremost, you are a person who has a substance use disorder, a potentially progressive, chronic and treatable disease. You are not the substance use disorder; you are much more than that.  Substance use disorder does not define who you are.

What do you see when you look in a mirror?  Substance use disorder loves to attack the brain, drive away your motivation, ambitions and pleasures of daily life. Substance use disorder can lead to brain changes including alterations in cortical (pre-frontal cortex) and sub-cortical (limbic system) regions involving the neuro-circuitry of reward, motivation, memory, impulse control and judgment.

Where there was once a shining light in your spirit, substance use disorder seeks to snuff out the lamp to leave you in darkness. Substance use disorder eats away at your gratitude, leaving you to feel empty, alone and hopeless. It loves to take all those in your life away from you until you think all you are, all you have and all you will ever be is a person with a substance use disorder. 

Depression and bipolar disorder frequently co-occur with substance use disorders and are prevalent in the general population. Research has shown that up to 50% of individuals receiving treatment for problematic alcohol use also met diagnostic criteria for one or more anxiety disorders. Emotion dysregulation has been identified as a key mechanism in the etiology, maintenance and treatment of alcohol and drug misuse.

There is hope. Hope for this second, minute, hour and day. Hope for this moment and the next. While substance use disorder does not want you to think there is anything that can be done, there is.

It is time to reclaim your brain and knock that substance straight of those neuron receptors and pave the way for clarity in your thoughts, words and actions. 

Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) is available now to help with that process. MAT includes the use of medicine (i.e., suboxone, vivitrol) that is meant to block messages from your hijacked brain that tell you the only answer is to use a substance like opiates or alcohol. Take action and talk to your medical provider about these medications and whether they may be appropriate for you. MAT, along with talk therapies and peer coaches, can partner with you and walk alongside you as you develop and work your recovery path. 

It is work. You will need to fight the substance use disorder to reclaim your life. Through that fight, you will walk through the darkness and into the light of day where joy exists. 

There is hope. Go restore your life.