I will not make it by merely gritting my teeth nor through sheer force of will. I must work to create a life so beautiful that tossing it aside for the illusion of temporary relief is ridiculous and unthinkable. I must remember that sobriety is my natural state, the one in which I came to this planet. It is my birthright; I am not creating sobriety, but returning to it.
Since sobriety (and a whole lot of work on my own spirituality), they seem to have become more confident, they have not gotten in trouble at school, and are much less likely to fly off the handle and react to challenges with fits of anger. This change, I believe, is due to them no longer having to deal with a toxic environment. They are learning to live life in a much healthier way.
I had done some pretty terrible things in my first 90 days. I stole from my employer. Yup, sober. I knew I had to make amends. People warned me that I would go to jail, lose my job, and never be trusted again. I remembered that I was willing to go to any lengths to recover, so I did what I thought was best. I replaced the money and made amends to my boss, and I didn’t get fired. I was shocked.
by Bill C. Prior to coming to Alcoholics Anonymous, I had no honest insight or clarity concerning my self-destructive behaviours. My relationship with the world had been distorted and somewhat delusional. Little or no meaningful personal relationships or true friendships with my family, and many regrets, kept me apart from instead of a part of. … Continued
As my dad chased the bottle, my mom chased my dad and we kids took on the roles of hero, scapegoat and adjuster. Everyone was, in fact, taking care of the bottle and no one was taking care of themselves.
A few people have said and done things that were unhelpful and made me question my future involvement in AA. More than once I stormed out of a meeting crying because I was alone in a sea of others, surrounded by those who wanted to help me but didn’t know how to reach me. It took another friend dying to make me realize that living was worth forgiving.
