Two competing definitions of recovery have emerged as our knowledge of substance abuse treatment has developed over the years. Recovery was first conceptualized as a means of living with a disease or merely without a disease. Properly understood, health in this instance is merely living. The second involves a proactive shift toward a fulfilling lifestyle that is brought on by a transition out of recovery and into a new way of life. Essentially, the difference between the two is that recovery is an ongoing process in the first case and something that is achievable in the second.

Goal Striving

In order to instill proper motivation and hope in individuals suffering from substance dependency problems, it is a good idea to set a goal. However this goal cannot simply be an object that isn’t reachable, otherwise trying to pursue that goal will just become discouraging. Creating attainable goals is very important because in those instances people will be more inclined to achieve them.

Health as an Attainable Goal

Creating reachable goals is especially crucial for people recovering from substance dependency. As they battle the addictive nature of the drugs themselves while simultaneously searching for meaning in their lives and rediscovering their true nature, setting positive goals regarding health becomes very important. When health is viewed as something that is achievable, it is more likely that people who want to strive for it will actually reach their goal.

Terminating Recovery and Moving Forward

Recovery in this sense is not something that is ongoing. Since a person’s previous lifestyle was dictated by addictive substance, a person begins and ends recovery when they can begin a new life that they may have been previously incapable of doing prior to the attitudinal or behavioral change. In the same way that the person transitions from abusing substances to recovery, they also can transition from the period of recovery to a new reclaimed life.

What Lies Beyond

The newly adopted lifestyle after recovery will probably be an experience quite different than the person’s previous lifestyle either in the recovery stage or the substance abuse stage. The new stage will ideally allow the person to take their past experiences and use them to function at their maximum capacity. This notion of health is ideally how the concept will be fully realized among people who have attained their goal of being healthy and staying well.