Meet my permanent active support team, my wife Beth. She finds us campsites each day, shops, cooks, and picks me up or drops me off when it cannot coincide with a campsite. She is working harder than I am. Loki, named after Joel’s dog, his sobriety companion who accompanied him in his 18 wheeler, is along for the duration as well. A number of you have communicated to me about joining the journey for a few days at different points. Another number of you have helped in the preparation for the trip, with communications or advice or training or in other important ways. Many of you have donated through GoFundMe, 100% going to SUD organizations in prevention and education, treatment and recovery, and homelessness. Others of you give encouragement through social media, text, email, or phone. All of these contributions helped fill the void of my injury, my weaknesses, my grieving, and my doubt. In Joel’s Steps is a community and not a solo effort. I could not do this alone. I’m trying ‘cause of a little help from my friends.
And so is the process of recovery. It takes the decision and commitment to take the first step towards the freedom of sobriety by an addicted individual, but then there is a community of support available to help where they, like me, are damaged, where they are weak, where they are diseased, and where they despair. That support helps repair their broken mind, give strength, catalyze healing, and give hope. They can try ‘cause they have a little help from their friends
How we view their struggle, individually and societally, has a huge impact on the success of treatment, its availability, and on its demand. Please help by sharing any of this information, a post, the website, etc with friends and contacts. Be a friend to others in this struggle, offer a little help.
Go ahead, sing the song in your head right now. Sticks with you doesn’t it? Do any of us think we can really get by without a little help from our friends?
Addiction is a brain disease,
It breaks the brain’s decision-making functionality,
It is treatable.
InJoelsteps on Strava, FB, Instagram, Racery, and GoFundMe