Wiki gives us the definition of the butterfly effect as the notion that small variations of the initial condition of a dynamical system may produce large variations in the long term behavior of the system. The extreme example often given is the small disturbance caused by the flap of a butterfly’s wings (hence the name) altering the course of the weather on another continent.
The recovery version of this occurrence I’m calling the sober butterfly effect. The term sprang to mind after discussing with a recovery group about how some people feel they are not being amply rewarded in their new sober life. It was sort of an out of the pink and into the gray discussion that focused on recognizing the sometimes intangible rewards of recovery compared to the dire repercussions of an active addiction.
The sober butterfly effect works opposite of its namesake. Take me as an example, I stay sober for 14 years and then have a blowout driving down the road. What happens? Absolutely nothing, the trick is recognizing the reward in this “nothing”. I put on my spare, decide it’s time to replace all 4 tires anyway, and take my wife out to dinner in her car instead of mine while it’s being serviced.
The series of events happens much differently as a practicing alcoholic and I get the same blowout. What happens? I am already running on my spare, in fact it’s actually my wife’s spare. Since I’ve been drinking I’ve got to abandon the car before the cops arrive. The car is towed because it is abandoned. I miss dinner with my wife after getting drunk with the buddy that picks me up, then get a public intoxication walking home Sunday afternoon, miss work Monday, fired for third strike violation, and wife says last straw. You get the drift right?
When the sober butterfly effect occurs, nothing happens… and sometimes nothing is absolutely wonderful!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Good post – when I read the title I immediatley though it would about how when one sober person helps another to get sober and so on and so on – but your expalanation is just as true amd happens far more often than what I was thinking – sometimes many times a day. It’s no wonder how a life spins out of control under the influence as the alcohol butterfly creates monsoons of misery out of such simple occurances as “damn I ran out of cigarettes” that result in a jail stay or worse.
Yeah, a run to the store as a practicing alcoholic can just as easily earn you a DUI or vehicular homicide as it could a pack of cigarettes.