This is the first day of National Recovery Month.
I’m one of the lucky ones.
So many are suffering.
If you know someone battling an addictive disorder or friends and family who have been pulled into the battle, too. In that case, you may want to direct them to a book I wrote specifically for my addiction and recovery journey–“Victory Over Opiates.”
Today’s writing is the final entry in that book.
Late in the evening on September 29, 2018, I was running alone down a side street in the quaint village of Cambridge on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Streetlights and members of the small town marked my path to a place I had never been.
Emotions were welling inside me as I turned the last corner of my run.
I was now on the home stretch.
Huge spotlights illuminated the path to my destination.
People were on each side of me, forming a human tunnel of encouragement as I headed to the finish line.
At 10:36 PM, on that beautiful fall evening, I heard the infamous Ironman Triathlon announcer, Mike Reilly, boldly state, “Jay Meyer, you are an Ironman.”
Early in my recovery, my counselors encouraged me to make exercise a part of my recovery program. I have an active mind, which is not a unique trait for people with an addictive disorder. Exercise helps calm my mind and my nerves.
I’ve always been a jock who enjoys competitive sports. In the early 2000s, I decided to take up the sport of triathlon. A triathlon includes swimming, biking, and running consecutively. The pinnacle of the sport of triathlon is an Ironman.
In an Ironman triathlon, the competitors swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and run 26.2 miles (a marathon) back-to-back-to-back, all on the same day. Less than one-hundredth of one percent (0.01%) of the people in the world have completed an Ironman triathlon.
When I crossed the finish line of Ironman, Maryland, I pointed to heaven and thanked God.
That moment of thanks wasn’t about me finishing an Ironman; it was about all the blessings of recovery had bestowed upon me.
Ironman Maryland is one of many accomplishments that never would have taken place in my life without recovery.
When I look back to August 9, 1987, the last day I put drugs and alcohol in my body, I look back in total amazement because of everything I see:
- A fun-loving and beautiful wife with whom I grow deeper in love as the years pass.
- Children and grandchildren whom I am proud of and love dearly
- Parents, in-laws, and other family members who are proud of the man I’ve become.
- A second chance as a pharmacist.
- A successful career in business with hundreds of cool and interesting people I formed relationships with along the way.
- Hundreds of alcoholics and addicts I’ve been able to lend a helping hand.
- A relationship with Christ, whose death and resurrection made it possible for me to have many second chances–the most important one being this amazing journey called recovery.
If you are reading this post and struggling with addiction or some other form of bondage, please understand there is hope.
I know what it’s like to be in hell’s pits, wanting to die and thinking there is no hope.
God thought differently for me, and He thinks differently for you too.
There are only two steps in recovery: Start and Continue.
THE BEST TIME TO START IS NOW!
Matthew 19:26, But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
P.E.A.C.E.
Jay @EagleLaunch.com
