Roads have one to two lanes – there are two to six or more lanes in a highway.

Many call this the Multiple Path to recovery. If you choose the one or two lane approach to improving your quality of life, it’s probable  that you may neglect other proven avenues to recovery and still have to live with the stigma of addiction. Facing the personal issues that brought you into the subculture of substance use could expose, hurt and provide of  hope. By facing the reality of what happened or what is happening, you can concentrate on the lanes that will take you out of your current situation.

My book, Roads to Addiction, Highways to Recovery describes three phases of my life that brought me into the subculture of substance use and out of it. I was an honor student of Syracuse University and a successful high technology sales executive before spiraling through a series of catastrophes including an acrimonious divorce, a life-threatening attack, market collapse, abandonment by family and friends, and infections from medical procedures which left me with life long disabilities. Creating eleven action plans, seeking support, rehabilitation, and the multiple pathway approach, I worked my way off the streets, to recovery and a good quality of life. In my book, I outline how I achieved these goals and I encourages the reader to do the same.

In phase three, I discuss eleven actions that I worked through. During that time, I was able to step back and see what had taken place. I faced the reality of my life by writing about it, which any of us can do through journals.  I became educated about addiction and depression. I found that to really move forward on a highway to a better life, actions must be taken. When you read phase three carefully, you will be able to see the eleven actions I took and the impact of those actions on my life.

As I was learning about addiction and recovery, I discovered that the eleven actions plans which move me up and out of the subcuture. Those actions complemented existing work by William White’s Recovery Capital concepts. Recovery Capital was discussed in detail in my last two blogs. In review, the Recovery Capital Scale includes thirty-five statements that a person serious about recovery must answer.  The statements quantify which life changing events are strong and those that are weak. The lower scored statements expose the weak areas of how you manage your life. Once you’ve assessed your weak areas, if you are truly committed, you can develop action plans to address those weaknesses and increase your score. White and his colleague Dr. David Best conducted a statistical analysis of the scores of people who completed the assessment.  Their results show that people who increase their score are able to better their life, motivate to recovery, are able to address stigma, and ultimately move out of the subculture.

If you want to learn more about the, real life, eleven action plans I developed that helped me build and use my recovery capital, you can buy the book, Roads to Recovery, Highways to Recovery: The Brian Masters Story through Amazon.  Follow this blog as well.  Future posts will introduce the key factors of each phase of my recovery.

My hope is that you can identify with the negative life events I have been through and see how my action plans actually worked.

brianmasters919@gmail.com william-butler.com