In today’s society, we are blessed to have amazing technology at our fingertips that allows us to do incredible things. With the invention of smart phones, we have become used to having a world of information literally in the palm of our hand! Think about what we are able to do now, in 2021, that we could not do 15 or 20 years ago. If a song comes on the radio, and I’m struggling to remember the name of it, I can hit a button on my phone and it will listen to the song and search the internet for the answer. It will even speak the name of the tune back to me! If I order a pizza, I can order it without having to even speak to a real person; and I can track the progress of the order, even seeing where the delivery driver is in real time as they drive to my house!
While this technology allows us to do super cool things, there is a very important disclaimer that goes with all of it. It is important to understand that this new technology, like smart phones, is a training tool. The technology is training us to expect everything to be instant! I wonder how many of our readers have ever gotten frustrated when a website or an app isn’t loading fast enough, or when your phone’s reception is not good enough to get internet? I know I have experienced this. It’s getting harder and harder to wait for something. It’s getting harder and harder to put off our feelings of satisfaction and to wait for something that is supposed to come later on down the line.
One thing that does not come right away? Recovery. Really, making any sort of real, lasting, positive change in your life is not something that is going to immediately “click.” This is something that takes time. It takes making a daily commitment and doing things that are going to move you forward in your recovery, while resisting the urge to do things that are harmful. If there was a magic way to totally cure someone of their addiction, with the touch of a button, someone would definitely figure it out and make it available. Can you imagine how much money that person would make? Unfortunately, there is no such thing, and there most likely won’t ever be something like that. So we have to result to old-school methods of daily commitment and hard work.
Speaking of “old-school,” let’s talk about an older piece of technology that we all still use today. I remember one time in group, a patient said to me, “I’ve learned that there’s no microwave recovery.” I asked him to explain what he meant. He told me that he had begun to understand that recovery takes an everyday effort. You can’t just treat it like putting a TV dinner in the microwave, where you put it in, hit a few buttons, leave it, and come back to enjoy it when it’s done cooking. I felt that this was an important message to share with somebody who might be in early recovery. My hope for anyone reading this, regardless of where you are in your recovery journey - whether it’s drugs, alcohol, or an eating disorder - is that you are able to resist the urge to do things that may feel a little bit good right now, but are harmful for you long term. Instead, I hope that you wake up everyday with the strength and resolve to take on the daily challenges of recovery and build towards something that is going to feel really good in the long run.
Contributed by Lance Pritchard, LPC-MHSP, NCC, Intensive Outpatient Program Counselor at Focus Treatment Centers, Chattanooga, Tennessee. To learn more or schedule an assessment, call 423.308.2560.
