"It's easy to stop using alcohol and drugs; I did it a thousand times."

Those are the words of William Cope Moyers in the DVD that accompanies Hazelden's new guided journal, A New Day, A New Life. "The hard thing is to stay stopped. Treatment is not the end. Treatment is the beginning of a life-long process called 'recovery.' "

"Staying stopped" is what A New Day, A New Life is all about. Moyers and five others who share their stories in the DVD put faces and voices to recovery, and through them, we understand more clearly how non-discriminating the disease of addiction is. The men and women who speak so honestly about their Twelve Step journeys come from diverse backgrounds, yet they have one important thing in common. Their brains--like the brains of one in 10 Americans--are "wired" differently. "When I ingested drugs or alcohol, a switch in my brain ignited that I couldn't turn off," explains Moyers.

Research has shown that addiction is not a matter of an individual's strength, moral character, willpower or weakness. It has to do with brain chemistry. Both the DVD and journal build on the science of addiction, underscoring for those in early recovery the fact that they have a disease. Although there is no cure for addiction, there is, fortunately, a solution. That solution is recovery, and A New Day, A New Life is designed to guide people with addiction through the cornerstone of recovery--their important first year.

Incorporating the wisdom and practicality of the Twelve Steps, the 365-day journal offers those in early recovery ways to make their living environment safe and sound so they can give their recovery the attention it deserves. Each day, readers are offered a piece of information, a message of guidance or inspiration, a contemplative question, or a meditation that they can respond to by writing down their thoughts and feelings in the space provided. As readers progress in their Twelve Step journey, the explorations in the journal deepen. Recording fears, expressing confusion, anger, doubt, remorse or joy in writing allows journal keepers to "turn over" what they cannot change and change what they can. The journal can be a non-judgmental friend and a tool with which to measure personal growth, and the six individuals on the DVD bring the topics in the journal to life. As they speak their truths and listen attentively to each other, they model what Twelve Step fellowship can be.

Addiction, says Moyers, is "cunning, baffling, powerful, and patient. It waits until people like me don't do what we're told. It waits until we stop going to meetings, until we stop communicating with a Higher Power. It waits until we become dishonest again. It waits until we become emotionally high or emotionally low--when we are vulnerable. It waits, and then it bites us." Because those new to recovery are especially vulnerable, both the journal and the DVD talk candidly about the people, places and things that can trigger a relapse and offer strategies to avoid this pitfall.

A New Day, A New Life makes the rich and challenging first year of recovery a little less daunting as fellow travelers on the path to serenity shine the light that leads the way.

--by Cynthia Orange

Published Summer 2008, The Voice