Odysseus has survived the war, just as we have survived our time in addiction; but he does not earn an easy return, and neither do we. No one recovers in a week. For Odysseus’s sake, and for ours, it’s the plan of a higher power that we learn to navigate a longer recovery process so that we can gain much needed insight into our addiction mindset and the things that hold us back from true recovery.

To stand and wait in Milton’s understanding is to endure, to stand firm in spite of hardship and to wait with the belief that this current suffering is part of a plan greater than our minds can fully comprehend.

In desperate situations, people are always encouraging you to have hope. I’d never been told to just let go of hope completely.