So what do you think?

Below is the article from the cover of this month's edition of The Voice. What are your thoughts?

Choose

One of the key components to recovery is self-direction. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) provided 10 Components of Recovery. Someone else was kind enough to give it to us in language that is clear and direct:

You as the consumer have the control to choose which path you would like to follow. You decide what steps you would like to take when you are ready to begin your own independent recovery process. You define the goals that you plan to achieve and the path you will take to get there.

“You decide….” These two words are powerfully dynamic equaling two others, “I am.” The freedom and ability to “be” and to “choose” are fundamental to who we are as humans. There are times when facing challenges to our mental health we lose hold of our ability to be and to choose.

The connection of being and choosing are illustrated by Viktor Frankl, who after experiencing the horrors of Nazi concentration camps writes:

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.

Though it may seem like a leap to suggest a few, if any, of us have had to endure experiences nearing the atrocities of concentration camps, it is less of a leap to suggest some of us have been stripped of all dignity and many, if not all, have faced the indignity of stigma, discrimination, unfair practices, uncertain futures, and even our ability to “be.” In the face of such challenges, you can choose your attitudes, you can choose your own way.

What does this have to do with recovery? Everything. It easy to be dissatisfied with the way things are. It is easy to be unhappy about life’s circumstances. It is easy to complain. It is easy to take the road that leads to little recovery because it is easy. On the other hand, you can choose the path to follow, the actions you will take, the goals you will achieve, the way you will celebrate achieving hard earned and well deserved success. The choice is yours.