Pink Cloud

In recovery 'pink cloud' is a somewhat negative term used to describe the state of myopic euphoria some people experience right after getting sober. Everything is sunshine, rainbows, and pubescent positivity. High on life and so enamored with their new found change a person newly sober can be disconnected from reality, making them vulnerable to their duplicitous addiction. It can also lead to proselytizing unsupported by experience or knowledge, sometimes a desire to spread the news of their temperance before it has a chance to solidify.

I was on my own pink cloud when I first got out of rehab. Everything seemed new and fascinating. The sun so warm and comforting, food so flavorful and fulfilling, my bed so luxurious, my apartment so spacious. After such a cosmic shift the mundane world seemed electric and fraught with possibility.

This mind set can be a danger, leaving those newly sober naive or over confident, but on the whole I think the pink cloud is something to strive toward. To see the world with freshness every day, to let the small irritating minutia of life fall from you like rain, to relish and appreciate all the small pleasures and simple triumphs we take for granted.

Every day is a gift. Every loved one a blessing. Life itself a privilege.