September is recovery month, so I asked some friends, “What does recovery mean to you?” Here’s what they said:

• Recovery is about being Alive.
• Recovery is Stability, Positivity & Serenity.
• Rebuilding the family unit.
• It’s Phenomenal.
• Recovery for me means to learn to love myself unconditionally.
• Recovery has given me hope.
• Recovery means I can build bridges with friends and family I treated badly during my active addiction.
• It’s an absolute miracle.
• Feeling alive and being a useful member of society.
• Recovery to me means change, a change in the sense that I no longer exist and endure I now live and experience bouts of joy and when I don’t feel happy, I no longer have a burning desire to change how I feel.
• I have learnt to accept the weather within.
• For me recovery means feeling happy in my own skin, knowing that I am enough but most of all is that I’m of use to others.
• Recovery means I get to tuck my kids in bed.
• A life beyond my wildest dreams.