The What Winners Do blog posted a great list of seven things she’s grateful for about being in recovery. I strongly recommend checking out her whole blog, because she writes well and she writes honestly. I hope this list of seven things entices you to check out more of what she’s written:

1. I don’t have to distract myself from what is going on inside - I’ve spent so many years fearing what I would find if I just stopped and looked at myself that I found every way imaginable to distract myself…mainly with drugs and alcohol. I am so grateful that in recovery I finally took a peek and realized that there isn’t anything all that scary in there.
2. I like having feelings - I have spent so much time and energy making sure that I was completely numb to anything resembling a feeling or emotion. I am grateful that in recovery I have rediscovered what it is to actually feel life. I don’t know how I lived without it.
3. I don’t have to keep it all in - I’m slowly learning how to express myself to other people. This is something that I’ve spent my whole life avoiding. Recovery has taught me that it’s ok to ask for help and let others know I’m scared or hurting. I don’t have to be strong all the time. I’m grateful to have become comfortable enough with myself to begin sharing with others.
4. I like listening to others - I used to think that I was a great listener and that people loved to talk to me for that reason. I’m grateful in recovery to have learned that I was never listening to others before…I was starting at them, waiting for my turn to talk. Now I listen.
5. There are people who benefit from me sharing - I used to think that by keeping all of my problems inside and not sharing with anyone else when I needed help I was in some way helping those around me. I didn’t want to push my problems onto them…they have their own. In recovery I’m grateful to have learned that by keeping my problems out of sight I wasn’t doing anyone any good. By sharing my struggles with others I am actually helping by letting them identify and see that it is ok to have problems, to struggle and to get overwhelmed sometimes.
6. The importance of staying in the day - this goes way beyond dealing with not using. For me, learning to stay in the day has given me my life back. I had a tendency to dwell on past mistakes and wrongdoings and it would really affect the way I felt about myself in the here and now. Those ill feelings toward myself would leave me dreading the future. I’m grateful to have learned in recovery the importance of staying in the day.
7. I’m not alone - there was a time when I thought that no one in the world could relate to what I had going on. This was magnified by the fact that I never shared with anyone and I also didn’t listen when they were sharing so I never made an attempt to identify with anyone. I’m grateful to have learned in recovery that my problems aren’t uncommon. I’m not alone in my struggles. Anytime that I need to be reminded of that, all I have to do is walk into a meeting and listen.