Growth can be a scary word for us.

The word change can be even more frightening. As addicts and alcoholics we are creatures of habit. We hate change. We like our routines. Think about it while in addiction most of us followed the same routine every day. Hence when we get clean most of us struggle to change our behaviors in the beginning because we are so use to our old behaviors. Habits take a minimum of 90 days to officially developed in our brains. Hence why usually things start to get easier once we hit the 90 days mark of recovery. 

For those of us who have stayed around for a long time usually the longer we get into our recovery the more we learn to love growth and change. It might be uncomfortable every time but as we sit and reflect it is a good feeling to see how much growth and change we have made. Progress is everything. Forget a high from a drug have you ever felt the high you get from growing and changing your life? The moment you can look back and sincerely tell yourself that you are proud of who you have become is the best high in my opinion. 

An example of this i can give you from my personal experience. I went from being the black sheep drug addict/alcoholic in my family who no one wanted me around, Nor did they want to be apart of my life. Now through growth and change of almost 5 and half years clean and sober. I am now the one my family calls to ask for help. Or they call to have deep conversations about life and get my opinion on the topic at hand. Which is crazy. The 180 that has happened with my relationship with my family. Going from the outcast to Mr dependable is an amazing feeling. You might have not had that exact scenario happen because not all family forgive but i am sure you have a similar story of your growth. 

At the end of the day the point of this blog is to let you know it's ok to be proud of how far you have come. Change might be uncomfortable but it is necessary and feels amazing when it happens. Be proud of who you are today. The past is in the past for a reason.