Recovery

You know...when I hear the word recovery alot of things come to mind.. I'm pretty sure all of us have at least a couple of meanings to the word but just for clarity I'm gonna give you the Google definitions:
1. A return to a normal state of health, mind, or strength.
2. The action or process of regaining possession or control of something stolen or lost.
Now for me this word has a profound meaning... both of these definitions sum up my continual recovery process(**notice i said "continual" recovery process.. Recovery never ends..)  Because of my past and alot of the things I was subject to as a child growing up, I was emotionally unstable and I had huge abandonment issues. I had absolutely no father in sight and I had a mother who was 15... Dysfunction was my middle name. I had no outlets for my feelings and never truly learned how to cope with my emotions. Because i was mentally effected by these events in my life those troubles began to trickle over into the physical.. before you know it I was an active member in a gang, ended up in prison, and for a way to escape my reality through drugs and alcohol. The abandonment issues shown themselves in my relationships with others. Until I was able to deal with my own issues and face them I basically sabotaged every worth while relationship that I was ever in. This not only including romantic relationships but friends and family also....

I believe that the true process of recovery begins with self-discovery. It begins when we look inside ourselves and take an account of our past and address whatever problems we have Face to Face and only then will our rode to recovery begin...