Hey L,
You’ve probably heard people tell you what your problematic behaviors cost you. You may have done those calculations yourself. And, you most likely also have been told about the “glorious” promises of recovery.
But, have you ever been told that recovery will cost you something?
Understand, nobody hands you a price sheet when you start your journey. There’s no upfront number, no line item breakdown of what it’s actually going to cost you to get free.
So a lot of guys go into recovery thinking the only “cost” is their self-soothing behaviors.
Stop looking.
Stop clicking.
Stop acting out.
Then you’re done.
And honestly, that’s the story most guys are handed, and it’s built on a false choice.
Because on one side, your behavior gets painted as pure selfishness, something you chose because you wanted to, so giving it up should be simple. On the other, recovery gets sold as this glorious, cross-the-finish-line-and-everything-gets-better transformation.
But neither one is completely honest, and the gap between them is exactly where shame lives.
Consequently, when we pretend that the cost of recovery is that simple, it sets people up to quit the first time recovery asks something harder of them.
So here’s the truth nobody puts on the brochure: recovery costs you something real.