For a percentage of people, it becomes inevitable that substance abuse is what their destiny will be due to genetic, social, and environmental elements in their life. As their addiction pursues, consequences will most likely get too high to continue in the way they are going. They will eventually hit a crossroads of getting sober or living a life of addicted misery.
Once you get sober, you will probably go through a myriad of emotions such as sadness, frustration, denial, anger which could turn into contentedness, awareness, and satisfaction and so forth. These feelings will perhaps fluctuate with the day to day circumstances to get you to a level of acceptance that will show you how to have heart in your sobriety.
You must be caring
When you hear that someone is grateful for their sobriety, you may not understand what they mean – yet. Staying sober will no doubt give you the momentum that you need to inadvertently become impassioned for recovery. With most things in life, you must care about what you are aiming to prosper in, and sobriety is no different.
You must have compassion
By forgiving others you will in return start to forgive yourself. Through forgiveness, you will start to understand what others are going through and approach the situation with less judgement and criticism. You will then start your process of becoming a more compassionate soul.
You must be generous
Hearing the word generous often arouses the thoughts of money. There are many other ways to be generous especially in the recovery world. You need not give money to others in recovery unless you are donating money to the Seventh Tradition to keep your 12-Step program alive. To give of your time, your experience, your strength, and your hope goes a long way to being of service to someone else who is struggling just like you did.
You must have vitality
Having great enthusiasm in recovery is the best way to show that you have heart. Many people that are trying to get sober do not want to do what it takes to maintain their sobriety. People that have found their purpose in recovery will lead the way for others to aspire to have a better life.
You may have heard of people having heart in sports or in theater, so why not have heart in recovery? Sobriety is a life or death decision that can affect the outcome of your life for years to come.