Recovery: Freedom From Our Addictions

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Me, with my proclivity for grandiosity, I will always favour sweeping change and grand revolutions, wild and wordy statements of intent, martyrdom and marvels. There appeared to be a dichotomy being portrayed by Brand by trying to show humility but at the same time seeping arrogance.

Addiction is when natural biological imperatives, like the need for food, sex, relaxation or status, become prioritised to the point of destructiveness. I've always known that the steps would be me wasting time or"faking it to make it" cause I'm atheist. The program in Recovery has given Russell Brand freedom from all addictions and it will do the same for you. Fortunately, our growing understanding of human nature and the multiplicity of self makes it easier to accept others’ faults.Part of that change is forgiveness and the willingness to look at our lives and the world differently. I have no power at all over people, places and things, and if I ever for a moment mistakenly believe that I do, and act as if I do, pain is on its way. Fast forward a few months and from listening to his podcast I learnt about Russell Brand's newest book Recovery: Freedom from Our Addictions. But what those in long-term recovery will tell you is the freedom from addiction is just a starting point.

Russell has been in all the 12-step fellowships going, he's started his own men's group, he's a therapy regular and a practiced yogi - and while he's worked on this material as part of his comedy and previous best sellers, he's never before shared the tools that really took him out of it, that keep him clean and clear.Since Simon Amstell started performing long-form standup 10 years ago, he’s made a virtue of holding his angst up to public scrutiny with an honesty that many performers shy away from, so it’s perhaps inevitable that a book should follow. There is one theme - recovery - and while the structure (the 12 step program) ensures that this theme follows a trajectory, the analysis starts to feel shallow, and dare I say it, a bit prescriptive, after a while. I do not consider myself an addict, but I had read many reviews stating theres also much to be gleaned for 'none-addicts' so I approached it with all the opened mindedness I could - however the reason I don't award this book more than 3 stars is that . Never has the controversial genre of Self Help been graced by a more beautiful, a more eloquent, a more truthful or a more effective addition to its aisles. For him, coming to terms with his addictions may have been triggered by serious looming legal consequences, but the most important result has been in finding out who he really is.