Get Healthy

When we talk about recovery, we talk about higher powers, reconciliation, mental health, and even root causes. One thing we often neglect is the importance of bodily health. This is something addicts think about as a negative often times. The phrase I heard myself saying was “Well, I don’t expect to live to 30 anyway”.

But that’s not realistic. Not only statistically, but even if it were true, quality of life is very important, and entirely tied to physical health. The funny part is how easy physical health is. It’s only about 2 things: inputs and outputs. What I put into my body. And what I do with the energy that stuff produces.

I’m not just talking about not putting drugs into my body either. What food am I eating? Am I drinking enough water? Did you know that your hydration affects how exhausted you feel in the morning when you’re trying to drag yourself out of bed? I learned that one the hard way.

And I’m talking about exercise—something I literally laughed at a year ago. Yet for the past 6 months I’ve been one of those gym-rats (without the gym). I exercise all the time now. And I feel so much better because of it. We’ve talked about exercise before in how it builds a community and gets us away from the sources of addiction. But today we’re emphasizing what it does to the body.

Good health is a drug itself. The body loves it. Endorphins. Dopamine. Serotonin. The brain will flood us with chemical incentives to stay healthy. As a society we’ve weaponized these chemicals for all the wrong things. But the body releases them for the right reasons when we eat right and exercise.

And it will begin to be instinctive. When I’m craving dopamine, I will have a desire to exercise or eat healthy. There will still be other cravings for these drugs—my phone, social media, my addictions. But having an alternative source of these triggers gives us options. And having an option that’s not an addiction is a way out. I can finally say no.

Think about that for a moment. The only source of these brain chemicals—necessary chemicals for life and for sanity—was my addictions. But when we get healthy, we have options. Our body doesn’t collapse without our addiction. And that’s literally everything.

It’s hard enough to fight the addiction when we’re healthy. Without it, we have no chance. So get healthy. Make a choice not to eat garbage for just one meal today. Make a choice to get off the couch for half an hour and do some jumping jacks. Take a step toward health. It’ll be hard, but worth it. It’s a way out of addiction. It’s a path to freedom.