Isolation Doesn’t Work
When We Help Others’ Recovery, We Help Our Own
August 12, 2011
Isolation doesn’t work in recovery. It’s great for abetting addiction, but not for the serenity and peace that comes with recovery and sobriety. I was privileged to get a call late night from someone relatively new to the program. He was struggling and he was in a part of town where he could cruise and act out. Both police and prostitutes were patrolling up and down the streets and this guy pulled over and made the choice to start making calls instead of acting out.
I was in the middle of a film shoot but stayed on the phone with him until he navigated out of that dangerous neighborhood and into an outdoor mall rife with families and restaurants and shops and distractions, and the warm summer night air. When I had to get off the phone, I asked two other friends of mine in the fellowship if they wouldn’t mind following-up with the newer guy as I had to get back to work.
I’m not trying to be self-aggrandizing; helping someone else with their sobriety helps me with my sobriety. I more simply want to point out that we’re in this together. And if there is a crack enough in the shell of our addiction to allow in some hope and self-compassion, some clarity and sanity enough to make the choice to stop acting out, and to instead make a call to save our own lives, that tiny crack can open up and allow a floodgate of faith and healing.
Sanity, serenity, and sobriety are aided by fellowship and sponsorship, which are crucial factors in getting us out of the hellish isolation of addiction and into the larger, healthier spiritual place of recovery. I’m so grateful I got that call, I’m so grateful that there’s that kind of trust in the fellowship. With a program like this, we don’t ever have to feel alone again. We don’t ever have to feel isolated.
