Early Recovery - Al-Anon Family Group

ttpurtee · Veteran Member

Early Recovery

Jerry F · ~*Service Worker*~

Early recovery for me was the first 90 days and then I changed it to the first year and then had to do it again to the first five years and all the while I kept coming back. It went like that for me because I am naturally "fear based" and "oppositional defiant". Now early recovery for me is the first 15 seconds after I open my eyes in the morning and start my conversation with my Higher Power..."Place me where you want me and tell me what to do". With that done I've just worked the first 3 steps at the start of another day which is the basis of my recovery...Trusting God.

I was then told that the next steps; 4-11 amount to "cleaning house" (my own) and the last step; 12 is "helping others". This response is a "Late Recovery" action.

Since I have accepted that I will never be cured of this disease and that I will always have a need to have this program in my life I have accepted that it will never be over thank God.

Probably hit outside the mark of what you are looking at and then there are others who have their ESH coming up soon also.

Keep reaching out TT and keep coming back (((((hugs))))) smile

abbyal · ~*Service Worker*~

We all recover at our own pace no set time , first 3 yrs were pretty rough for me , if willing to make changes required for a better life they seem to never stop , good news is they do or at least they slow down , for me there is always something that I need to change old defects die hard . Recovery goes this way for me .. Awarness (admit whats causing me a problem , Accept that I have made mistakes, Action ( change my behavior ) .. and remember were going for progress not perfection . I have been in program along time and have yet to meet anyone who does this perfectly .. Louise

nyc018 · Senior Member

According to my AH, they say at his meetings that "The person who wakes up the earliest today is the one with the longest sobriety." Eg., it's always a day by day process. I can tell you that he is about 4 months sober but is nowhere even close to being well-adjusted and spiritually healthy. I would expect that to take years, assuming his recovery continues which of course I hope it does.

maryjane · ~*Service Worker*~

Hi,
Early, mid, late recovery? His? or yours in AlAnon? My hubby was nasty, angry and defiant outwardly for a year. Then he learned how to hide it to his AA friends and only have it come out at home while denying everything. It is 11 yrs. later and a bad cancer later and he (I think) is finally "getting it". I'm not sure and I don't really look too hard though. It's not my business. And frankly, nowadays, I don't care. I watch his actions and how he treats me. The rest? I'm tired of hitting my head against that wall.

For me? My recovery was real slow because I was so focused on his recovery and "if" he was happy. He wasn't. And I knew it all the time. I hit my bottom when I was looking at a bridge support and wondering what it would be like to hit it and be gone. Then after he had cancer I had a friend in AlAnon who got to know him in Gilda's Club (for cancer support) and she said he was giving everyone a sorry story about his wife not being supportive. She figured out that she knew me and my story in AlAnon and told me what he said and that she "was starting to feel sorry for him until she figured out that he was my hubby and she knew my story through AlAnon. It really bothered me so I talked to my grown children about it. They put my mind at ease that it wasn't me. He still isn't happy.

So, if you are asking about His early, mid, late recovery.... who knows? It is his timetable.... his defiance.... his anger.... his choices.

If you are asking about your recovery? You are in the right place. Keep coming back!

The material presented here is not Al-Anon Conference Approved Literature. It is a method to exchange information, ideas, feelings, problems and solutions on a personal level.