When you’re in recovery, building grit is so important because you’ve got to weather some difficult things.
According to Mike Grant, author of (Re)Making A Sandwich: An Addiction Case Study, grit is a transferable skill that you can bring from addiction to recovery. Having some sort of coping mechanism is a powerful tool you can use to help you through the process.
In Mike’s case, it was his love of running.
Grit as a Transferable Skill
Usually, when you’re struggling with addiction, your life is a complete mess. Maybe you’ve got some DUIs, broken relationships, or financial issues. You’ve got to have the grit to keep pushing through. You can transfer this grit from your addiction to your recovery.
Grit is a transferable skill and everything’s educational. If you can use the skills you learned in your addiction and bring them into your recovery, that grit will get you far. This is the reason there are a lot of folks who are in recovery who do pretty well for themselves. They already had a skill base for overcoming hardships.
Running as a Metaphor
Running is a metaphor for so many things. You have to do it yourself because no one can do it for you. You have to set goals and then get out there and accomplish them.
Running also allows you to process and think through things, manage emotions, and eventually get to a place on the other side where you have a better understanding than you did when you started. This is crucial especially in early recovery because it’s almost like meditation.
If you can center yourself, get to the other side of those thoughts, and not allow them to have power, you can get through life’s hurdles as they come.
“Yes, You Can!”
Once you have developed the mindset that you don’t think you can do anything, you won’t even put yourself in a position to try because you’ll think it’s just going to be another failure. You have a mindset of expecting the worst so you won’t be disappointed.
Being able to shift from a perspective of shame-based thinking and saying, “I can’t” to a mindset of saying, “I can” is very powerful. If other people can do it, why can’t you? If other people are doing it, you should trust yourself enough to believe that you can do the same.
If you want to learn more about Mike Grant’s journey through addiction and recovery, check out Episode 160: Transferring Your Grit From Addiction to Your Recovery with Mike Grant.