Start by Doing What’s Necessary, Then Do What’s Possible

“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” - St. Francis of Assisi

As we begin the journey of recovery we are capable of doing only the necessary.  We don’t drink, or whatever our addiction of this life-season may be, and we go to meetings and we live our lives in hourly increments.   Slowly, as hours turn into days and days into months, the fog lifts and we begin to recall our forsaken dreams and goals.   

One day we realize it might be possible for us to achieve what we abandoned.  As our dreams are reclaimed we become the people God intended us to be and suddenly we realize we are doing the impossible.  That is the story of my recovery and as director of the Center for the Study of Addiction and Recovery at Texas Tech University it has been my honor to watch the miracle of recovery flourish in our students as they begin to achieve the possible and awaken to the fact they are accomplishing the impossible, living in community with champion peers, achieving an education and becoming the person they were meant to be....

This post is part of the ONDCP Stories of Hope blog series.