Sunday Serenity: Is it a “Pink Cloud” or Something Else?

Have you ever heard of the pink cloud, as we call it, or the treatment high? I'm going to tell you a little bit about that. Thank you for joining here this next episode of Sunday Serenity here Sunday evening. I'm Jason Lennox. I am your resident recovery champion here to share with you all things related to recovery wellness. Super excited to be here talking a little bit about the pink cloud as it goes in the industry. And again, the pink cloud, for those of you who don't know, are the treatment high, those are used interchangeably.

It's kind of this experience or this feeling that people get from treatment and really coming out of treatment. I've just heard it in a way that makes it really hard for me to fully agree with. And I'm going to tell you a little bit why we call this a treatment high or a pink cloud. It really minimizes the experience. Often when we talk about that, it's related to, hey, Risa, happy to see you here. Really related to a point in time and minimizes, I think, the work that sometimes goes into treatment.

And second, I think the pink cloud often feels like it's artificial or manufactured in the way that it's talked about. And so again, I think I have a hard time agreeing with that. And then lastly, it's a temporary thing. Oftentimes you hear about this pink cloud and it's a 30 day span. When people are in treatment, they get out and we're going to go backward and back to this terrible feeling. While I don't completely disagree with the concepts, I have another take on what I think might actually be happening.

Perhaps it's coming from a level of grace, a level of serenity, a level of peace that we just aren't used to experiencing, or people in your lives that struggle with drugs and alcohol aren't used to experiencing. And I want to tell you, I want to point out a few things that I know for me personally really contributed to this feeling that I had or this experience I had in treatment. I often go back to the 28 or 30 days that I was in treatment, and I think about those days as some of the most hopeful, happy, serene times.

And I had nothing. I walked into treatment with nothing, literally a broken laundry basket full of dirty clothes. That's what was to my name. And I still had that experience. So I want to tell you, there are three things that come to mind. First of all, the first reason I feel like I experienced so much of that serenity, grace and peace is because there was no more running. There was no more hiding. See, I lived most of my life, even as a youngster, as a child, having all these thoughts and having all these actions and behaviors that I just didn't feel good about.

And quite literally, for the last year of my active addiction, I was running. I was wanted with felony warrants, and every time I looked over my shoulder, anytime I saw a police officer, the reality was, I knew it was going to come to an end. So I had gotten so used to hiding and running that I didn't even realize I was doing it. And so, as I got into treatment, and, you know, whether it was by chance, by choice, whatever, I landed in the hospital after an overdose and then a jail cell, and then they let me into treatment.

So I didn't have a lot of choice in the matter, but I began to experience it because I was forced into this. I'm out in the open. Here's my story, right? I'm not hiding anymore. I'm not running. Yes, Risa, and you're absolutely right. This isn't just recovery. That's the beautiful thing about this app and Cadre. The things I share and the things I learned, I think, impact all of us as human beings. And it just so happens that when you throw drugs and alcohol into the mix, and addiction takes over just to another extreme.

So, 100%, Risa, this is all of us. So no more running. So that felt amazing. And, again, I was forced into it, but that felt amazing. And then honesty. I was able to get honest and actually start talking about some of the things that were plaguing me for so long. And again, perhaps forced, or the door was just open for me because people started talking to me about that. And I think, you know, the reality was the. The honesty wasn't there, because it just didn't have that in me. But as I began to sit with the people who were in this space and told me about their lives, I opened up.

And so honesty was a huge component. And lastly, the last thing I think about is this idea of closing the gap. That's what I call it when I talk about this, and I think I wrote about it in my book. I was this little kid, and innocent, right? We all come into this world, I think, very innocent. Good evening, Luke. Good to see you here, buddy. We come into this world as innocent human beings. I truly believe that. And then as we accumulate time and, you know, experiences and relationships, that really changes the way we look at things, the way we act, the way we behave.

So, closing the gap. I'm this little kid. This is the way I always drew this picture, I had these dreams and these aspirations and these goals of taking this path. I was going to take flight and I was really going to get into the person that I wanted to be. I knew I wanted to be an athlete, a sports analyst, a business owner, and I wanted to help people. In fact, I was preschool, kindergarten. I was in the newspaper for helping people in a nursing home. It was just apparent that that's what I wanted to do with my life.

Now, the problem was, as I found drugs and alcohol, and even before that, greed and ego and pride and all the human defects that we all share, to some extent, those took over. And guess what? My trajectory actually went this way. And so as I'm imagining that it would go this way and I'm actually going this way, I'm creating this massive gap here. And inside that gap lives pain, remorse, shame, guilt. And so, you know, the only way that I knew how to deal with that was drugs and alcohol. And we often find other things in life that it really makes a huge difference in the way that we're showing up.

And so, again, this is my trajectory. This is where I was going. I only can deal with that through more of the same pain and so on. And so as I began to actually find a different way of life and I got to treatment and I thought about what I could do. First of all, I stopped harming people. So I stopped going down. And as I started to climb back up and repair and repair, I'm closing that gap a little. Right. And I believe today wholeheartedly the level of serenity, peace and grace in my life is related to how far from the person that I know I could be, am I?

And, you know, I'm always a little bit behind that person. I think that's what I wouldn't want it any other way. Every time I think I've done what I could do, I realize there's another level. And that's the beautiful thing about life. But again, as long as I can stay fairly consistent and close to that person that I know I could be, I feel like I'm going to experience a level of serenity. I don't feel like I do experience a level of serenity, grace and peace. And, you know, there's not much better than that.

I call this Sunday serenity because there's nothing like living free of all those things. And so those are the three things I feel like I'm not running anymore. I'm getting honest, and I'm closing the gap between who I could be and who I actually am showing up as. And so those are the three things that I hope you take away. And, you know, my call to action for you is to share with someone today about those things that you might be running from. It's all good. I've been doing this thing for almost 13 years.

I still have those things. We all do. We will forever. But share with somebody close in your life. What is it that you're running from, that you're hiding from, that maybe need to get honest about? Do that and then find ways to continue to close that gap, map that out. Who did you want to be? Where do you think you are in that? And get closer and closer and closer, just a little bit behind. And serenity, peace and grace are bound to follow. I promise. I promise. And so I hope you've gathered something.

Thank you, risa, for sharing. Luke. Yes. Thank you for being here. I hope that this is insightful. This gives you some ideas and some things to think about. And maybe thinking about this treatment high or this pink cloud a little bit differently, that kind of takes away from the whole idea that it feels like we're actually, for once or maybe twice or three times in our lives, doing something that aligns with who we could have been. And so I just urge you to think about those things, think about the way you use that language and consider that maybe it's a level of serenity that we just haven't experienced and that's out there for everyone.

So, again, I thank you. Thank you for joining. Look forward to next week. Follow along here. Going to continue coming here with more of these types of videos and sharing with you all, both from a recovery standpoint, but from a personal standpoint, human being, because we all have this in us. So hope you have wonderful weeks, hope you're blessed. Hope you find ways to bless others, and we will see you next week. Cadre fam, thanks so much.