Bryan Hullihen Talks About the Importance of Solidarity
One of my favorite quotes is from an old coach of the New England
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. It's a simple quote yet extremely profound for
me and in many ways has given me direction as a leader as well as a friend to
others. This particular coach looked at Brady and said "I want to look
into your eyes and see that you want the same thing I do." When I heard
this I was immediately struck by how relevant and applicable this concept is to
recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction. When groups work in solidarity
amazing things happen; “Many hands make light work", "Two men can
easily accomplish what one man struggles to achieve", and "Send a
single man to scout but an army to conquer" are just a few maxims that
illustrate this concept. I have observed the power of groups in achieving the
shared goal of sobriety and I have lived that experience myself. Conversely, I
have seen people isolate themselves and try to find recovery whose efforts
invariably proved futile. I too have tried to recover on my own at times in the
past only to find myself back where I started, or worse, in a very short time.
It is for these reasons that Paramount Recovery Services relies so heavily on the power of the group. PRS prides itself in
building teams of guys dedicated to finding success in recovery while providing
the necessary tools for the team to realize their goal. PRS
has had individuals enter the program far behind where the rest of the group
was in teams of living a recovery lifestyle only to quickly be brought up by
the rest of the team to be on their level of recovery principles. This power is
so profound that it is nothing less than miraculous to witness let alone
experience for one’s self. When I finally accepted the fact that I, in fact,
had alcoholism and needed help I found myself around a group of guys that felt
the same way and were ready to do what they needed in order to get better. We
worked together by sharing our struggles and solutions to those struggles with
each other, holding each other accountable, and being able to lean on each
other for strength among other things. Being a part of something, a shared goal
of recovery, is something that I believe to be a primary contributor to my
success in finding recovery. Developing recovery principles as the framework
for how I live my life today is something that I don't believe could have been
accomplished on my own and thanks to solidarity I found freedom from the bondage
of addiction. Thank you all so much for your continued support and, as always,
I look forward to reading your comments.
Your friend,
Bryan Hullihen authors several blogs on recovery topics for early
recovery, emotional sobriety, and sober living. You can follow them on:
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