Practice Perspective

I’ve collected lots of recovery tools over the years, from the tried and tested to the trendy. Some of my recovery tools look easy to use, but when I pick them up, I forget how they work. Others work really well for me, but only in certain situations.

There’s one recovery tool, however, that seems to work for me every time. It’s my one-size-fits-all, foolproof, go-to tool. It’s called “The Next Right Thing.”

I didn’t know about “The Next Right Thing” until I came to LAP for help. At that time, I was overworked, overwhelmed, and overwrought. My coping mechanisms were overanalyzing and overindulging. I felt like everything was too much for me to handle, and I didn’t know what to do next.

But my LAP mentor made it easy for me. “Just do the next right thing,” my mentor would say, over and over again. And it worked. “The Next Right Thing” became my mantra. It became the tool I’d use to pry myself out of a rabbit hole, to help me change direction when I was spinning out of control, and to keep me level and balanced.

I like “The Next Right Thing” because it’s so basic. It works by breaking things down into bite-size pieces. It reminds me to take one step at a time. It shows me that I can do this.

For me, “The Next Right Thing” sometimes means doing nothing. Just pausing. Other times, it means doing something I don’t feel like doing. Like finishing a brief or working out.

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