Please welcome to our blog a guest writer. Paula Davies Scimeca is a highly respected author and accomplished addictions nurse. We encourage you to search for additional web content by her and we hope she continues to offer pieces for our blog.
Addiction recovery is a reality for hundreds of thousands of people. As a nurse who has specialized in addiction for over twenty-five years, I am convinced that addiction recovery can become a reality for anyone who seeks it as consistently, persistently and doggedly as they once sought their drug-of-choice. Having witnessed many miraculous recoveries, I can say with assurance that no matter what the circumstances, people do, and can, recover, regardless of any challenges they face.
Many of these same individuals have at some point during their recovery process uttered the statement that they “can’t wait to get back to normal.” Yet, the very notion that the brain of anyone afflicted with addiction can ever revert back to its original state, prior to the use of mood-altering substances, is an illusion which must be addressed promptly and head-on.
One of the most important concepts for anyone in addiction treatment and recovery to grasp is this: Addiction isn’t an interruption in life, but a punctuation mark, after which nothing can ever be the same. The fact is that the very essence of recovery requires that the individual establish a new norm; a new baseline and mode of operation which includes a wide array of recovery skills.
For most, competency in conflict resolution, anger management, sober socialization and optimal self-nurturing are vital aspects which must be learned, practiced and eventually mastered in order to ensure an uninterrupted recovery. Self-appraisal of risk is an area which must be continually explored to identify where adjustments should be made, regardless of the stage or length of recovery one attains.
So, for those of you in recovery, or seeking recovery, I wish you health and happiness as you journey past the punctuation mark which brought you to the threshold of recovery, and as you embark on the establishment of something ultimately better than “getting back to normal.”
Paula Davies Scimeca, RN, MS www.UnbecomingANurse.org
Paula Davies Scimeca, RN, MS, obtained her baccalaureate degree in nursing from Adelphi University and her graduate degree from SUNY Stony Brook. Her career has spanned over three decades, with the first ten years spent in medical, surgical and critical care nursing. She has over twenty years experience in addiction and psychiatric nursing, as well as a background in occupational health, case management and legal nurse consulting. Since 2003, her professional endeavors have been solely devoted to chemical dependency in nurses.
