Last night I received a message from a good friend regarding this site. I was amazed at the initial response to this website. My amazement springs from having been involved in several nonprofit help groups dedicated to helping individuals who are struggling with addiction of some sort. For various reasons the attendance at these groups is sporadic, and inconsistent. My involvement and experience in these groups has shown me that anonymity on this Island is near impossible, for reasons that most everyone can understand, and some that only experience in these groups can shed light on. It is a difficult and thorny issue. It is my feeling that a website such as this could provide a measure of anonymity, but as the requirements for recovery become clear to the person seeking help,it will also become clear that the path to recovery may require a willingness to risk partial loss of that anonymity, especially in a community such as ours.
There is a second and more pervasive reason why attendance and involvement in these groups is inconsistent,in my opinion. This reason goes to the very heart of addiction and why we recover or not.
There is a concept in recovery groups called white knuckling. This is basically the phrase that describes raw will power carried to absurdity. The phrase would describe an individual from whom the substance causing the problem has been removed, but the disease of addiction still rages on in that person. Indeed the spiritual side of this person if anything has become more ill. He has now added pride to his condition, and this my friends is the very root of the problem. Having attained perhaps two or three days, a week, or even a month of living without his substance of choice, individual thinks that he or she has a handle on the situation.And more often than not the individual will then wander back into dependence; and if you are anything like me, the substance again has control and you know very well that this is the truth.
Here is the unvarnished truth, the real effective method for recovery lies not in will power, but in your willingness to share your weakness, your inability to overcome the your addiction, that it has absolutely controlled you,and defeated you. This is the type of truth that enables recovery and puts you at eye level with your contemporaries in the group setting. It speaks to your willingness to share, to be unselfish. There is a spiritual quality to this willingness, it runs contrary to the concept of pride of accomplishment.There is no shame in 12 step recovery work, nobody will shame you.What you will find is the joy of seeing another human being grasp these spiritual concepts, and realizing that they are the breath of life itself.
Join us,enter recovery,and breath deeply while helping your sisters and brothers.
— Carl Cheney
Help Me Grand Manan! 