Teen and Young Adult Recovery Blog

One of our favorite things as a recovery program is seeing the light come back on in a person’s eyes after they’ve attained some success in recovery. Despite an individual’s life circumstances, this moment often starts around 30 days sober.

We see it day in and day out in our own programs, as well as in local 12 step meetings we attend. Family members see it too, and they make comments to us about it all the time. Interestingly enough, we’ve noticed that often the newcomers themselves are the last people to notice the change. It reminds us of one of the classic passages in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous:

“Quite often friends of the newcomer are aware of the difference long before he is himself. He finally realizes that he has undergone a profound alteration in his reaction to life; that such a change could hardly have been brought about by himself alone.”
— Alcoholics Anonymous, Pg 567

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