Those that know me know that I'm in recovery. Truth be told I've always been a bit uncomfortable with the term. It feels too much like a label to me, and I struggle with the term because, well, it hasn't been my experience that I've recovered. To recover means to go back to how things were. To rehabilitate. If I recover from a broken leg, it means I can walk again. Recover has a past tense: recovered. That doesn't make sense because recovering is a constant process.

I find that after I'm better now than I was then. For me recovery is like breaking your leg, putting in the work, and being able to to run marathons. Recovery isn't about going back, it's about going forward better than ever.

There's a second definition of recovery I enjoy a bit better, and that is a reclaimation of something lost. We recover the treasure lost at the bottom of the sea. In recovery, we recover our spirit, or true selves lost to whatever plight we went through.

This definition of recovery is great because it can be extended beyond people suffering from addiction or disease. Anyone that's gone through a divorce, breakup, through a job loss or workplace issue, or even just parenting can benefit from a recovery process, so that they can reclaim what was once theirs.