Are you ready to step out into the world with hope and confidence in sobriety? Sobriety is not just about abstaining from using substances, it is about living your life! You can participate and thrive in healthy relationships, work environments, and handle the day to day things of life on life’s terms. The progress you have made on expressing some of your root issues is very valuable. This awareness of weaknesses and past tendencies is a clear reminder to keep you in check. Wisdom’s protective jacket surrounds those who choose to live according to its life-giving principles. Feel its armor around your head, your heart, and your whole being.
Burning off the Dross
Oxford dictionary defines dross as the following:
Dross – something regarded as worthless; rubbish.
After we have spent some time in sobriety, we come to understand that the healing and recovery process does take time. It is a marathon and not a sprint. While running the race and while the mind is being renewed, there is still some dross stuck to us that needs to be burned off. Dross shows up in things like a lack of motivation, procrastination, low self-esteem, feelings of not having worth or purpose. 
It could be old attitudes or negative self-talk that we haven’t quite let go of completely. So, why do we hold onto the dross? Well, it may be because to submit these tendencies to the fire of truth can be uncomfortable or painful even. This cleansing process may involve some high-pressure situations down in the valley. Don’t be afraid! Just take one day and one moment at a time. Apply the principles you have been learning. Stop and evaluate. Find your way to higher ground where the view is clearer.
Here is another Jordan Peterson video on making incremental changes. This includes moving in the right direction and dealing with the dross in our lives which we discussed above.
Watch Video Now
How does the video describe changing what we are doing or thinking to improve our lives?
How does the momentum of taking positive steps increase?
How does knowing the curve of going the wrong way help us to stand our ground?
Solid Ground of Sobriety
After you made the decision to become sober, you had to move out of where you were into new territory. You may have experienced immediate positive results to your energy, sense of well-being, sleep, relationships and overall vitality. Or, it may have taken some time before these positive results began coming to fruition. While waiting you may have found yourself in a desert place. In that place you are standing in a vast dry desert with cracks in the earth going out in all directions. The sun is hot and there is no water to be found. But you have made the decision for change! This is new life. A small bud pokes up through the cracked earth, and a splash of green comes into view. You may have to dig to find water. Now you must nurture this tree. You will have to protect it from anything that would threaten to pull it up or blow it away.
Growth and Fruit
This small growing tree is the physical and emotional sobriety that you have committed to. You must protect it at all costs. You must remain on the dry ground until your spiritual and emotional renewal bring living streams of water. This may take time. The tree will continue to grow. If there are parts of your life that are still preventing you from being sober, maturing, or growing, they may need to be pruned off. Stay on that dry ground. The growth and fruit you are looking for will come. Perhaps it already has.
How have your relationships improved since you started this new path?
How have your goals and disciplines changed?
How has your inner peace, joy, and self-control blossomed?
Suggested Action Step/Question for Reflection
Just like you had the chance to share your past wrongs and character flaws with others in earlier lessons, now you have the chance to share your success! Write down the successes you have both small and large. Share with a recovery coach, mentor, counselor, minister, or priest. Take note of how this sharing experience can help shape your next steps ahead. Questions to consider.
What are some fruitful outcomes you have experienced in this Educational Series?
What are you hopeful for coming to fruition in the near future?
Helpful Links
Book: Tender Warrior by Stu Weber