Vigilance in Sobriety
“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance and a willingness to act in its defense.” - Barack Obama
Hi Friend!
Vigilance is a word that I learned early in my sobriety journey. My buddy would say every morning “ I need to remain vigilant every day and focus on the 24-hours ahead”. This has been forever engrained in my mind. And he is not wrong. Everyday I am vigilant about my sobriety no matter how busy my day is, if I am sick, etc. I know my disease never took a day off so neither can my recovery.
What is vigilance as it pertains to sobriety?
Vigilance in sobriety refers to the ongoing effort to maintain awareness and mindfulness of one’s thoughts, emotions, and behaviors to prevent relapse and ensure continued recovery. It involves recognizing the importance of regular habits and practices to sustain sobriety, just like eating, sleeping, and exercising require consistent effort.
We practice vigilance in recovery to not just survive, but to thrive. Vigilance helps prevent judgment and fear from taking control of our thoughts and actions. It ensures that dignity guides our decisions, and courage shapes the quality of our lives. Through vigilance, we cultivate true understanding—gaining clarity about where we stand emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually. It allows us to recognize our purpose and embody who we are meant to be. Practicing vigilance in recovery helps us identify potential problems before they arise, enabling us to respond proactively and positively rather than reacting passively or negatively.
Vigilance drives us to make the right choices, even when we feel torn, exhausted, or weak. By practicing vigilance, we render temptations powerless. It shields us from lapses in judgment and overcomes external influences that distort our perception. Vigilance replaces negative thoughts with universal or spiritual principles, reinforcing our conscience and commitment to moral values, keeping us moving forward in recovery rather than slipping back into addiction. It confronts and eliminates anything that threatens our happiness, peace, joy, or calm. In doing so, vigilance makes recovery not just a theory but a lived and enduring reality.
Through vigilance, we can fully embrace the gifts of recovery—freedom, peace, joy, love, friendship, and more. It lifts us beyond mediocrity, helping us to be our best selves. Vigilance builds our trust in the recovery process, empowering us to use our experiences to help others. It provides a solid understanding of the structure of recovery, enabling us to create and sustain a life filled with meaning and purpose.
Vigilance in recovery is to be on guard. However, it is not to be on guard out of fear or lack of knowledge. If we did not know our enemies or how they attacked, there would likely be cause for fear. But we know our enemies are alcohol, drugs, and other forms of addiction or dis-ease. We know they attack through cravings, wrong thinking, manipulation of memories and feelings, and similar methods.
Vigilance in recovery is to be on guard so we never again need to meet, battle, or be defeated by our enemies. It is to keep addictions and negative behaviors in the past by fully inhabiting the present moment. It is to create a future of fearlessness through the practice of principles that lift us above our enemies and their attempts to hinder recovery.
The Relevance Of Vigilance
Vigilance is comprehensive, natural, and relevant to all areas of life. It is something all people practice when safety or health are threatened. For example, when an intense weather storm approaches a particular city, townspeople will turn their attention to media outlets; watch and listen to weather reports; acquire information about the storm; and learn how to overcome challenges that intense weather brings. Or, if a group of people are recent cancer survivors and need to be tested twice a year to determine if they are without malignant cancer cells, they will visit the doctor or laboratory; verify their remission status; and follow medical orders to remain cancer-free.
Vigilance is practiced in all areas of life so we can survive. We practice vigilance in recovery so we can survive – and thrive. We practice vigilance in recovery so that judgment and dread will not be able to commandeer our thoughts or actions. We practice vigilance in recovery so that dignity will underlie our decision-making processes and courage will determine the quality of our lives. We practice vigilance in recovery to cultivate right knowledge; to know where we stand emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually; to recognize what we are here to do and embody who we are here to be. We practice vigilance in recovery to be able to see oncoming problems and respond proactively and positively rather than react passively and negatively.
The Motivation Of Vigilance
Vigilance motivates us to do the right thing when we feel torn, tired, or weak. It is how we apply dedication to recovery. It the last line of defense when thoughts to yield to addiction return to the mind.
Vigilance renders temptations ineffective. It safeguards recovery against inner lapses of judgment; conquers external stimuli that can sway perception; replaces negative thinking with universal or spiritual principles. It fortifies our conscience and commitment to morality which moves us forward in recovery rather than backward toward addiction. It confronts and eradicates things in our lives that threaten happiness, joy, peace, and calm. It establishes recovery as genuine and embodied rather than theoretical and transient.
Vigilance allows us to attain the gifts of recovery – freedom, peace, joy, calm, love, friendship, and more. It allows us to rise above smallness or mediocrity to be our best. It helps us to trust the progression of recovery so we can use our experiences to help others. It gives us an understanding of the framework of recovery so we can create and maintain a life of meaning and purpose.
Questions For Building Vigilance
Let’s make this personal. Read the following questions. Internalize your reactions. Perhaps recognize where a new thought or contrary action can be substituted for an old idea or conditioned behavior. Perhaps call a friend in recovery to discuss your answers.
Where in my recovery and life can vigilance be helpful?
Can I realize when my thoughts may be wrong?
Am I willing to examine my perspective when I am rigid?
Can I admit when I need help?
Am I willing to do what is necessary to save myself and my sobriety no matter what?
Can I do the right thing when nobody is looking?
Am I willing to go to any lengths to maintain the integrity of my recovery?
Can I use the tools I have learned in recovery within all areas of my life?
What does my recovery mean to me?
How can I be on guard against things that attack the quality of my recovery?
What can I do to sharpen my awareness and resilience?
How can I enrich and fortify my recovery?
How do I share my recovery with others?
How To Preserve Recovery
Vigilance safeguards and nurtures the precious gift of lasting recovery. It sharpens and embodies the core principles upon which recovery is built, making it practical and achievable rather than theoretical and unreachable.
Through vigilance, those who overcome addiction and dis-ease bring a human element to recovery. Vigilance is how we transmit hope and the promise of freedom to those seeking it. For instance, imagine a young man striving for sobriety who encounters individuals in recovery who are bitter, fearful, or unhappy. He would likely feel discouraged. However, if he meets people who practice vigilance, embodying consciousness, compassion, and contentment, he may be inspired to learn more and pursue recovery himself. These examples illustrate how vigilance fosters a practical and principled path to healing.
Without vigilance, recovery becomes vulnerable to self-sabotage, and its foundation weakens in the face of challenges or uncertainty. In the absence of vigilance, complacency creeps in, dedication falters, and disorder reclaims our lives. Without this essential quality, we risk forgetting the truths we’ve learned, falling back into destructive habits, and losing our sense of honor and humanity. Vigilance, therefore, is not just an element of recovery; it is the force that keeps it alive, strong, and sustainable.
How To Develop Vigilance
The following are suggestions to develop the power of vigilance. Choose a few items from the list that interest you. Choose a time each day to do these activities. Commit to a plan of action. Perhaps do your chosen activities for 10 consecutive days and notice if there are any changes in how you feel about recovery and life. Write these changes down or discuss your experiences with someone. Incorporate the things that work for you into your life as healthy habits to practice each day.
Prayer (any style)
Meditation (any style)
Journaling (2 or 3 pages each day)
Reading (spiritual or inspiring literature)
Walking in nature (without electronic devices or other distractions)
Practicing yoga (any style)
Painting, playing a musical instrument, or similar creative endeavors
Making a gratitude list
Gardening
Attending a Twelve Step meeting or another gathering with like-minded peers in recovery
Other activities that involve surrender and elicit inner silence
By embracing vigilance in sobriety, individuals can cultivate a strong foundation for lasting recovery, empowering them to live a fulfilling, purpose-driven life.
Are you vigilant about your recovery or do you struggle in this area? I am here to help.
XO Jenna
