guide to recovery

so tuesday night was volleyball tryouts for a competitive team that i've been excitedly anticipating. this summer i was consistently exercising for at least an hour every day, 6 days a week but when i woke up the morning after tryouts my body felt like i had been thrown down a mountainside haha 

i was sore all over.

so i did what i know i needed to do so i could properly recover from the high demands that competing at this level required in order to go out and compete at that same level again at practice the next day:

• made sure i slept at least 7 hours
• did a warm up and stretched for 15-20 minutes
• bought ACE bandages and a cold compress
• iced my shoulder and elbow
• put icy hot (which is one of my all-time favorite smells) on my calf and shoulder
• put my rice heating pad on my lower back
• took Aleve to preemptively battle any inflammation
• ate a good meal
• drank a ton of water
• scheduled an appointment w/ a massage therapist

at last nights practice, thanks to my time and effort i put into recovery, i was fresh and strong and able to compete and play at an even higher level than i did on tuesday which helped to solidify my spot on the "A" team. Woot! Woot!

you may not know this, but physiologically when you exercise you're actually breaking down your muscle. thats what exercise does; it damages your muscle fibers. thats why exercising isn't what makes you stronger. it imposes a demand that your body will then work to adapt to, but where you actually gain your strength from is after your body has repaired and fortified those muscles against future demands.

recovery is just as important as the exercising.

naturally this lead me to thinking about my addiction "recovery" and what inferences i could gain to help in my spiritual recovery. so id like to share 5 important lessons i've learned.

1. recovery is not passive - recovery takes effort. the more effort you put into recovering, the more effort you'll be able to put into overcoming and resisting and enduring the trials and temptations. the 12 steps are just that, steps. you can't take a step without making an effort. recovery works to the degree you work recovery.

2. you need a place of refuge where you can rest - find/create a safe place. somewhere you can be free from the trials and temptations of this world and seek Christ and give yourself time to heal. examples: temple, outdoors, gym, anywhere with your bestfriend, etc.

psalms 9:9 the Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble 

3. eat of the bread of life and drink of the living waters - daily gospel study and weekly church attendance to all your meetings. the living waters are a representation of Christ and His teachings. water is essential to life, and physical recovery, just as constantly studying the doctrines and principles of the gospel are essential to spiritual life and recovery. Jesus is also the bread of life in that his atonement is the only thing that can save us from death, both physical and spiritual. every week in sacrament meeting we literally eat bread in remembrance of His sacrifice.

john 6:35 and Jesus said unto them, i am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst

4. be preemptive against satan's efforts to inflame you - build up your righteous defenses. seek to exercise faith in all that you do before you're faced with a trial of your faith. set boundaries, put on content filters, reach out to friends/family/sponsor, make the decision to protect yourself from sin before sin is already affronting you. put on the armor of god before battle, not during.

ephesians 6:16 above all, taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked

5a. schedule an appointment with a professional - meet with your spiritual specialist: your bishops. They are divinely called and set apart as judges in israel to cleanse the church from iniquity and help those who sin find their way back onto the path of righteousness. not a single one of my bishops ive ever met with knew anything about addiction or addiction recovery. they just knew porn was bad and against the law of chastity. they are imperfect men who are not specialists in what we're going through, but it was an opportunity for me to exercise my faith and even when i haven't felt i necessarily gained anything from meeting him, i have been able to feel of his love and desire to help me and of the love that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for me.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks "the bishop is the judge and the shepherd who has the power of discernment and the right to revelation and inspiration for the guidance of the flock."

5b. schedule an appointment with a professional - don't be afraid to meet with a therapist/counselor. Elder Holland gave an amazing talk during the Saturday afternoon session of general conference this last weekend titled Like a Broken Vessel. there are professionals in dealing with mental health issues and addiction is a disease of the mind. it is not a weakness to seek professional help to recover. 

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland "if you had appendicitis, God would expect you to seek a priesthood blessing and get the best medical care available. so too with emotional disorders. our Father in Heaven expects us to use all of the marvelous gifts He has provided in this glorious dispensation."

hopefully this guide can be a help as you seek out your own recovery whether it be from addiction, abuse, betrayal, or any other emotional and spiritual damaging situation/condition.

remember that you cannot recover yourself. even with physical recovery i can make every effort to create an environment conducive to my body recovering, but it is this amazing wonderful body that recovers by God's divine design. so too must our spiritual recovery be. it is our responsibility to make every effort we can to create an environment conducive to allowing Christ and His spirit into our lives because He is the only one who can truly recover us.