Phase Two Recovery - Dawn of a New Life

Phase two signals the dawn of a new life and some freedom to tackle new challenges that we may have never thought we were capable of in the past. Still, the addiction has likely been devising some new plans during these changes we have made and it isn't going to give up that easy. Our addiction has been around for a while and it isn’t going to give up its hold on us in just one day. Although we have gotten some freedom from our most troubling addictions, we still must recognize that we cannot abandon our efforts just because we have a bit of freedom. We are grateful to a Higher Power for the new freedom we have gained but we don’t become overly prideful else we might lose the progress we have made.

Actual experience brings a newfound relationship with a Higher Power. It can be heard in our voices and seen in our body language once it starts to take effect in our lives. We are happier, calmer and more confident than we have been. Our spiritual life has taken hold of us through our actions and our addiction is no longer running the show as it did before. Actions develop and change as we progress. As our actions change, so do our perceptions of ourselves. This can be a good thing but it can also signal a new chance for our addiction to take over if we aren’t careful. We may start to focus more on our intellectual understanding of addiction rather than our practical recovery. If we wish to truly maintain our place in phase two recovery, we must remember that the addiction never sleeps! Rather than seeing these great new changes as something that "we" have done, we now begin to see the need to remember our Higher Power in everything that we have. Maintaining our humility is the critical element of phase two recovery.

Although the addiction refuses to be rooted out, we still know that some progress has been made in phase two. This is something that we can point our fingers at in our lives. We no longer drink as we used to drink! We no longer hide from the personal problems that we have suffered from. Still, we now know that addiction is extremely clever so it will typically celebrate the achievements of recovery with an overly strong sense of pride which can sometimes be our downfall. For this, we have turned to a Higher Power to help us through the trials and tribulations that recovery might bring.