Every day is made up of 24 hours, no more, no less. Spending at least 8 hours of that time sleep leaves you with a whopping 16 hours to live your life. A lot can happen in a day. Days can be absolutely great. Days can be absolutely terrible. The great thing about each day is that there is only one of them until the next one comes. One day at a time is a popular slogan in recovery which reminds you to focus on today, just for today, because that’s the only day you can focus on. When a day happens to be especially bad, it can be difficult to cope.
Remember that serenity comes from accepting what you cannot change…
The serenity part of the ‘serenity prayer’ explains that it takes serenity to accept what you cannot change. During a bad day, there are many circumstances where things are out of your control. Something happens to you that you couldn’t stop or change in the moment. Unfortunately, you cannot go back and change it. Additionally, you cannot change the people, places, things, or circumstances which might have caused you harm to create a bad day. Accepting what you cannot change is the best way to change a bad day into a good day. Once you let go of the need to control and change what is beyond your control, you stop being in crisis or calamity and enter a state of serenity. Acceptance is the answer to all my problems today it is often said in recovery. Acceptance might not change what has happened, but it changes what is happening now.
And courage comes from changing what you can.
The courage part of the serenity prayer explains that it takes courage to change what you can, which most often refers to yourself. There’s a little known secret in recovery which most are pleasantly surprised to experience for themselves. You don’t have to relapse to start over in recovery. Any bad day can be turned into a good day and you don’t have to relapse to start over. You can start your day over at any point in time by deciding you are going to make the most of even the worst circumstances.
The good news is, no matter good or bad, you did it sober. Learning to live a day at a time in recovery takes time. Residential treatment programs like the ones offered at Cottonwood Tucson offer the safety and healing environment you need to recovery mind, body, and spirit. For information on our internationally recognized treatment programs, call us today at (888) 727-0441.
