Recovery is hard work. No pill can do the work of recovery for me. If I sit back and wait for a pill to make me better, I will not get better. I may become a chronic, helpless patient who swallows pills on command, but I will not recover. Recovery means taking an active stance towards the problems and challenges I face.
Medications are only a tool.
Psychiatric medications are one tool among many other tools that I can use to recover. Physical exercise, eating well, avoiding alcohol and street drugs, love, solitude, art, nature, prayer, work, and a myriad of coping strategies are equally important to my recovery. Using medications is not a moral issue. There was a time when I thought using medications was a sign of weakness or that people who no longer used medications were better than I was. I no longer think this way.