Chickens and Eggs

We have all heard of 'the chicken and the egg'. Without a chicken, you don't get a hen who can lay eggs; without an egg, you don't get a chicken. Recovery is filled with Chicken-And-Egg Problems. For Recovery to be sustainable, we need good Self Sustaining Habits and routines. To make ourselves work towards these habits and routines, we need the discipline and such that these habits are to provide. So where do we start? This is another example of growing a comfort zone. In addition, third party input may well be a necessary catalyst. If you are not used to routines and cannot motivate yourself without them, from where does the motivation to instigate routines come? This is what I call, by drawing an analogy from modern computing, a Bootstrap Process. We go from zero to a little. Possibly we do this many times. Eventually something sticks, and we have skmething to build on. In my life and Recovery, third party input has been crucial and, without the benefit of hindsight, it was often impossible to know what third party input was required. As such, Recovery is a Research Problem. So we need the motivation to research, to try things out and see, to fumble around in the dark, to go up false alleys, to stumble and fall, again and again, picking ourselves back up each time. We need to somehow not get discouraged when we make little progress. But without obvious progress, out motivation ebbs away very easily, and we are forced to wait for the next wave of drive. This wait may be weeks, or months, or even years.