At Jaywalker Lodge, we are guided by our hearts in everything we do. In fact, the whole Jaywalker operation is guided by heart, and the heart of Jaywalker is summed up in our 12 “We Believe” statements. These are the reasons, motivations, and guiding lights for every single action and for every single person here. We’ve come to our 12th and final belief, and perhaps the most important one. Nothing sums up Jaywalker Lodge better than We Believe #12. If there’s one thing you need to know about Jaywalker Lodge, it’s that we truly believe in this sentiment with every fiber of our being.
We Believe #12: We believe that while complete abstinence from drugs and alcohol is an essential strategy in early recovery, the ultimate goal of sobriety is to live a life of joy, abundance, and meaning. Doesn’t that sound wonderful? And the best part is, we know it to be true!
Abstinence Is Essential, But Also Just the Beginning
Complete abstinence is indeed essential. Nothing happens without our sobriety — we’d simply remain in the grips of our active alcoholism and addiction. Nothing changes if we don’t have sobriety. Nothing. But how do we achieve reliable abstinence? That’s the catch, right? We are alcoholics and addicts, so abstinence and sobriety are not things we can do on our own. We certainly don’t know how. That’s where recovery comes in, and it comes through for us in a big, big way. Mere sobriety is not the aim of recovery. In fact, we’re as sober as we’ll ever get once the chemicals are out of our system. But there is no limit to how well we can get in our recovery, and as far as we know, the best way to achieve long-term lasting abstinence is to engage with the program of recovery.
We need abstinence in order for our lives to change and we need sobriety to begin working on our recovery, but what is recovery really about? Isn’t it just going to meetings with grumpy old men and losing all our friends and doing a bunch of religious stuff with strangers and not having fun anymore? Wrong! That is absolutely the most incorrect picture of life in recovery.
Where Joy Comes In
For alcoholics and addicts, a life in recovery is nothing short of beautiful. Sure, there are the normal ups and downs that any life will have, but recovery is not the end of fun. It’s the real beginning of fun, joy, and happiness. People in the meetings are strangers at first, but they quickly become like family. Soon, sharing our lives with the recovery community becomes one of our greatest sources of joy, strength, and growth. Yes, there is a 12-Step course of spiritual action, but recovery is not about any religion. It’s about having a spiritual awakening that makes lasting recovery possible.
How we experience the truth of this firsthand — because experiencing it for ourselves is the only way we’ll believe it — is by working the 12-Step program of recovery once we are sober. Working the Steps helps us find abstinence, but it also helps us find a whole lot more. The Twelve Steps are a course of spiritual action designed to produce the necessary psychic change and vital spiritual experience within alcoholics and addicts that help bring about freedom and recovery from the disease. Put simply, we work the Steps with our sponsor, we go to meetings with our recovery community, and we try to be of help and service to anyone and everyone. Just these three things — that’s it! And doing them on a regular basis will change us and change our lives in ways we never could have imagined.
You Deserve This Kind of Life
It must be said, heard, and understood that recovery is not just a “treatment” and it is by no means a punishment for our lives spent in alcoholism and addiction. Nothing could be further from the truth. Recovery is a gift given to alcoholics and addicts. Recovery is a miracle. The true purpose and the ultimate goal of recovery is to live a life of joy, abundance, and meaning. We believe that you fully deserve it. Recovery is not about paying for our sins or living a boring life. Recovery is about growing into the person we’ve always wished to become. Recovery is about learning how to live the life of our dreams.
It says outright in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous that we absolutely insist on enjoying life! It also says that while rebuilding our lives is a byproduct of working the program of recovery, the real goal is to live happy, joyous, and free while growing as people and helping our fellow human beings. We can’t think of anything more beautiful to come out of the disease of alcoholism and addiction. It’s not about penance. It’s about being an alcoholic or addict who was once on the brink of death and then learns to live a life of meaning, purpose, joy, happiness, abundance, helpfulness, and love — and then shows other alcoholics and addicts that such a miracle is possible for them, too. That’s what recovery is really about.
The best part is that all this is possible for you, right now. At Jaywalker Lodge, we know that you deserve to experience the beauty of life in recovery, just like we have. Come join us.
Jaywalker Lodge believes in the 12-Step program of recovery, and we believe that recovery is possible for anyone who is willing to do the work. We also believe that every alcoholic and addict, including you, deserves to find recovery. The Twelve Steps are a course of spiritual action designed to produce the necessary psychic change and vital spiritual experience that can help bring about freedom and recovery from the disease. We believe it will work for you, because it worked for us. But more than anything, we believe that sobriety and recovery are not a punishment for our former lives spent in active disease. Instead, recovery is about the promise of a bright future and a present life filled with meaning, joy, abundance, purpose, happiness, and love. If you are ready to find this life for yourself, Jaywalker is ready to help you every step of the way. Call us now at (866) 529-9255.
As Chief Executive Officer Bill provides leadership and manage all day-to-day operations of Jaywalker Lodge, an extended care residential addiction treatment program for adult men.
