Living with addiction is sort of like growing up on a boat. The ground is always moving underneath you, sometimes you learn to stay upright, when the water is gentle, but at times it's completely impossible, and it's all you can do to lie flat and hang on for dear life.
Coming into recovery... it's like washing up on the shore and standing up. Even though you're on solid ground, it takes a while to stop reeling and constantly counterbalancing, because that's all you know. People on land might look at you like you're insane for hanging onto a railing, because they've always stood on solid ground, and can't understand being that involuntarily imbalanced. Over time, you start to gain your land legs though, and stop having to reel back and forth just to stay upright. Then you wake up one day, and realize that you can walk a straight line on dry land for the first time. You always remember the buck and roll and learning to walk again, but you learn to stay upright and walk among the 'land people.'
Just for today... I'm thankful to be on dry land, with memories of walking on water.
I'm always looking for ways to describe what "things are like." This is my metaphor for recovery.