My thoughts on the matter of RECOVERY are much in agreement with many of the other responses that have been posted.

One can only be fully recovered from certain physical ilnesses such as a cold or a flu.

Recovery is a process, ongoing actions/behaviors, that are designed to bring us relief from our mental disorders.
One's goal in the process of 'recovery' is learning to manage one's symptoms of mental illness.
In recovery we learn to have better control over the symptoms of our mental disorders/
illness(es) so as to not let them have such a strong control of our lives, as they once did.
Recovery can be likened to having a toolbox full of 'tools'. We learn how and when to use these 'tools' to repair the problems that come upon us because of our various mental disorders/illnesses.

I think we would also do well by learning the 12 Steps of A.A. and adapting them to our mental disorders/illnesses.