Relapse and Reuse

What is the difference between a relapse and a reuse? When people relapse they continue to use and do not stop until they reach another bottom. People who reuse know that what they are doing is only going to lead to self destruction and possibly death and they stop. They return to meetings, they start to call their sponsor again and they reach out to others in the program.


I have walked through may events through out my recovery, from divorce, to death from natural causes of dear friends to losing people to an overdose. What I was taught early on in my recovery is that 'No matter what, don't pickup'. Sometimes that was the only tenant holding me up, literally and figuratively, and keeping me from using again.


When we internalize our emotions and we don't go to meetings and let others know what is going on with us; those emotions start to eat away at us. The longer they eat away at us the closer we get to relapse or reuse. 


When I spoke to my sponsor yesterday he gave to me to beautiful nuggets of wisdom. The first is 'there are no answers' and the second is 'it's not that complicated'. It goes with the old adage of "keep it simple'. If you have a reuse, pick yourself up and call another addict. We have all been there in our own way. I have never seen anyone who has made it back through the doors of recovery not be given love. What I see is that everyone has been there in their own way and they are grateful another brother or sister is home safe again. We welcome them home with open arms.