‘The human drama of athletic competition…’
If you are old enough to remember a time before sports could be seen on television 24 hours a day, you might remember ABC’s Wide World of Sports. For decades, host Jim McKay shared “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” with viewers of the popular show.
McKay’s introduction started with the words, “Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport.”
For our part, we scanned our previous blog entries to find three occasions when we used a sport—baseball, soccer, and basketball—to explore issues related to recovery. We want you to experience the thrill of victory in the form of ongoing sobriety. And we want you to avoid the agony of defeat in the form of a relapse.
You might think of this as Wooded Glen’s Narrow Neighborhood of Sports.
Let Us Take You Out to the Ballgame
We have actually taken to the field to write about baseball and recovery twice.
Here is the box score of the ideas we shared:
- Home runs are exciting, but there is so much more to celebrate: Remember that the small moments in recovery can be just as important to your ongoing sobriety as the milestone moments.
- Baseball—like recovery—has a long season: Ballplayers work their way through the long season one day at a time, and that is the right approach to recovery, too.
- You never take the field alone so rely on your teammates: Baseball is a team sport—and so is recovery. You can count on your “teammates,” like your sponsor, members of your recovery group, supportive friends, and more, to support you as you face ups and downs.
- Focus on the Fundamentals: It is important to stick with the foundational activities that support your sobriety—like going to meetings, eating healthily, exercising regularly, and sleeping restfully.
- Lean into your individual skills: Finding the strategies that work best for you in recovery is important. Some folks make good shortstops. Others are pitchers. Still others are catchers. In recovery, you have to find your best approach to the game.
Head into extra innings with the original blog entries:
Recovery Lessons from America’s Pastime
Recovery Lessons from the Baseball Diamond
Getting Guidance from the World’s Most Popular Sport is the Goal
Our previous entry about soccer was focused on pursuing your goal (or goooooooooooooal!) of ongoing sobriety even in the face of setbacks.
We used the United States men’s national team as an example. In 2018, the team failed to even qualify for the World Cup—the ultimate soccer tournament. In 2022, however, they were able to play their way into the tournament, achieving an important goal. With that goal accomplished, the team has to work to keep up its level of play and work toward its next goal: a championship.
Recovery is all about constant improvement, too. Making steady progress toward your long-term goal of lasting sobriety is always a worthwhile endeavor.
Take advantage of stoppage time to read the original post:
You Might Get a Kick Out of These Recovery Lessons from the World Cup
Lessons from the Basketball Court are a Slam Dunk
We headed to the hardcourt for some recovery lessons, too. A couple of them—including getting the fundamentals right and relying on your teammates—mirror advice from our baseball entries.
But our basketball entry offered an important additional idea: Sometimes you have to switch up the defense.
Every basketball team has a way they prefer to approach defense. But that approach is not going to work against every player or every team. And so it is important to be able to change how you defend so that you don’t find yourself falling behind your opponent.
Something similar is true in recovery, too. Sometimes you have to shake up your recovery routines to effectively deal with a challenging period or situation. Having a plan for how you might do that can make the shift easier and more effective.
We also noted that a commitment to gratitude—like players express for their teammates in interviews—is a great way to support your sobriety.
Take the game into overtime with the original blog entry:
Recovery Lessons from the Basketball Court
The Winning Play is Getting Sober
At Wooded Glen Recovery Center, which is located in Henryville, Indiana, we are committed to helping individuals get and stay sober. We offer inpatient and outpatient treatment programs that are individualized to meet your specific needs. And we can treat co-occurring mental health disorders that are often entangled with a substance use disorder. Our work is grounded in evidence-based practices and supported by our years of experience, our expertise, and our empathy. If you are ready to start building a future without drugs or alcohol, we can help.