Recovery Reinspired: The Beginning

Good evening, everybody in the Cadre universe. Okay. I'm so grateful to be here sharing with you all for the first time, wherever you are. If it's Sunday evening, you're watching a little later, really glad you're here. I posted two questions in my scheduled live in the description, what is recovery and who am I to talk about it? And so I want to start with who I am. My name is Jason Lennox and I am your resident recovery champion. I am not the recovery champion. I am a recovery champion. I'm a champion for recovery, in recovery, of recovery.

And I have a number of experiences throughout my life that give me the expertise to talk about this. First of all, I grew up as a, hey, Dan, I'm seeing some comments here. Great, great to see you in the kitchen, Dan. I grew up as a young child watching the destruction of substances and alcohol running rampant. I lost my father at the young age of 17. He was 39 when he died from cirrhosis of the liver. His dad had cirrhosis of the liver. It just kind of was everywhere. And so I watched it growing up as a child, and by the time I was twelve, I found substances and I really struggled with that for the better part of twelve years, until 24 when I landed in treatment.

And so I had that experience from a, watching from the outside perspective, also living it. And fortunately, a big reason I'm here sharing with you all is because I've had a beautiful, nearly 13 years of a journey on this side in recovery, living a meaningful life. A little bit about who I am and why I'm qualified. I'll say I'm not a counselor, I'm not a therapist, though I've coached and mentored individuals and groups and run treatment programs that probably would qualify me to do a lot of that, but set the stage that I'm coming from an experiential perspective.

So that's who I am. And now for the what is recovery? Now I feel like it's important foundationally to define that because we have so many different definitions floating out there. And if we look back 100 years ago when Alcoholics Anonymous started, recovery was one thing. Hi, Katie. Hi, Risa. It was one thing, it was abstinence. Okay. And that's because they were dealing with alcohol and that was just the way that they knew. And now we know 100 years later, medicine has advanced light years. We've also got so many more substances and so many more dangerous substances in the mix.

So that has evolved over time. And as far as the definition goes, I like to look to SAMHSA. SAMHSA is the substance abuse and mental health services Administration. That's a federal entity, and they are one of the gold standards for everything, recovery and behavioral health. I mean, they have data, they have resources, they have education, and they have a lot of funding. So they are kind of the go to, in my opinion. And they define recovery as a process of change through which individuals do three, improve health and well being, live self directed lives, and strive to reach their full potential.

And I want to touch just on those three things a little bit, but really a process. And that's what I love about that, because this is a process. This isn't a. I come up to the plate, I take a swing and I'm out, or I score, and that's the end of it. It's an evolving process of change through which individuals, again, improve health and wellness. By the way, it's in that Cadre is in that what Cadre is here for, to improve health and wellness, because we know that it's not as much about the substances and the alcohol.

In fact, it's less about that and more about what wasn't working from a wellness and health perspective, at least in my experience. I had things going on in here and up here that contributed to my demise in that sense. So, really, it's improving health and wellness. And I'm so excited to. Hi, Shannon. I'm so excited to tap into. By the way, I wasn't sure how the whole comments thing would go, but I think it's fun playing a little back and forth. Great to hear from you, Cadre folks. But improving health and wellness, and I can't wait to dive into those dimensions.

Second, live self directed lives. This is important because we grow up as kids, and what happens? Our parents tell us how to live, and then we go to school, and the teachers tell us what we're supposed to do, and then we grow up and we go to work, and then our work tells us how we're supposed to live. And, you know, if you're like me and some of us, and you get into this thing called trouble with the law, now you have a whole other slew of people that are telling us what to do. Being able to live self directed lives, it's a beautiful thing to be able to wake up and make my own decisions and know what I'm gonna.

Where am I gonna go? What am I gonna do? How am I gonna contribute? What am I gonna eat? Being able to do that and do that autonomously is one of the greatest benefits of recovery. And then the last thing. The last thing, maybe my favorite. Strive to reach their full potential. Now, here's a little secret, at least from my perspective. I'm never gonna get to my full potential every time I think I'm there. Look, I have a coach. Her name is jean. This woman is one of the most powerful humans I've ever met.

And every week, she gives me a little homework, and I come back the next week, and I'm thinking, gene, I got this. I know I have the answer. What we talked about. I'm good. And I'll share, you know, really excited, because I'm a little kid who's gonna pass the test, and I'll get done, and she'll say, but what else, jace? What's next? And so, again, striving to reach that full potential is so critical to me, and I'm grateful that I have people in my life that can help me continue to grow that potential and grow that potential and expand where I am.

So, again, samhsa's definition of recovery. I love it. Right? We're improving health and wellness, living self directed lives, and striving to reach our full potential. And I'm so excited to dive more into each of those and continue this journey. This is just the beginning. The recovery reinspired. I really think we need a new level of inspiration into this whole movement of recovery, and I'm so passionate about it, because I've been fortunate to find it. So, wherever you are tonight, Sunday, I hope you've had a wonderful weekend.

Wherever your weeks are taking you. I love new weeks. I love Mondays. It's a new shot at starting fresh. And so I hope you have wonderful weeks ahead of you, and I really look forward to walking alongside this journey with you and learning and growing together. Thank you for joining.