When I first started in recovery and heard people with a considerable amount of time say they were happy I honestly thought to myself, “well clearly they weren’t as bad as me, I’ve lost everything.” My first year was not an easy ride, as I’m sure is they case with most everyone. I had a lot of stuff in my active addiction and was a fairly functional alcoholic. I’m just coming up on 18 months sober, which I know isn’t a terribly long time, but I’m seeing more and more that happiness isn’t the amount of stuff you have, or your self perceived status in society, it isn’t all the things that come from self-centered thinking, which is incredibly hard to be aware of when your in it, happiness comes from your relationships, from what you can give to others, and the ability to truly value the things you do have. Not going to pretend it’s easy all the time or that I’m bubbling over with joy, but I have developed a sense of peace I wouldn’t trade for all the possessions I lost. Life is rad.