There are a palethora of recovery programs that offer more than just a life without alcoholdrugs. Not only is this way of life better than the misery we lived, it is better than any life that we have ever known.
Few of us have any interest in "recovering" what we had before we started drinking/using. Many of us suffered severely from physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Getting drunk/high and staying that way seemed like the only possible way to cope with such abuse. Others suffered in less noticeable but equally painful ways before addiction took hold. We lacked direction and purpose. We were spiritually empty. We felt isolated, unable to empathize with others. We had none of the things that give life its sense and value. We took drugs in a vain attempt to fill the emptiness inside ourselves. Most of us wouldn't want to "recover" what we used to have.
Ultimately, the recovery we find in these programs is something different: a chance at a new life. We've been given tools to clear the wreckage from our lives. We've been given support in courageously setting forth on a new path. And we've been given the gift of conscious contact with a Power greater than ourselves, providing us with the inner strength and direction we so sorely lacked in the past.
Recovering? Yes, in every way. We're recovering a whole new life, better than anything we ever dreamed possible. We are grateful.
Just for Today: I've recovered something I never had, something I never imagined possible: the life of a recovering addict. Thank you, Higher Power, in more than words can say.