Many people living in one day at a time recovery know the reality of living in the mystery. The mystery begins upon our awakening when we draw our first conscience breath as we ask for help and gratefully acknowledge the reality of a new day. Our reality becomes “Whatever will be will be”. If only it was that simple. Why would we worry – because we are living in a mystery. Life has a way of conditioning us to be anxious and our remedy is to call upon our togetherness with God, the spirit, or the universe. Our awakening petition is “God help me” and he, she, or they does. Why or how do we know. We know because we are drawing sober breaths. The miracle is working. For this we are grateful. It’s a big thing this grateful thing is and faith finds us. We trust the mystery. “Whatever will be will be”. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery know the reality of relaxing on a rainy Saturday afternoon. The whole idea of living in recovery is to remain abstinent on such days even if we are little bored, a little sad, or even a little lonely. Some of might even think about hitting up a noon hour meeting in the rooms of recovery and perhaps even going for coffee with friends after the meeting. Some of us might turn a rainy Saturday afternoon into a family day. Our reality becomes we can relax in many different ways either by ourselves or with others. Some of us might just have a nap. Reality is reality and relaxing is relaxing and relaxing is a tool that can introduce us to silence. Silence in all reality is a bonus. So we relax and we enjoy. It’s a gift. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery understand the reality of living in quiet times of fear. We were told in early recovery that people who lived to use and used to live often were afraid. Most of our fears stemmed from uncertainty especially when we felt the need to be in complete control of everything. We call this self-centered fear. A little bit of faith and trusting in the reality that God, the spirit, or the universe is and always was in control helps us to maybe even let go and trust in the process. Most things usually work out okay. When we are living with fear and we express this fear to a friend it helps to ease this fear. Often talking with another helps us to adapt and eases our fear. Prayer helps too. Have faith and reach out. Why? Because it works. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery understand the reality of the things we cannot see. One such reality is the pursuit of good intentions which often live in the minds and hearts of people, good people who have no clue about how to make good intentions come to their fruition. “If wishes were horses beggars would ride.” Other things we might not see are the anxieties and the stressors of quiet, calm, and reserved people. Although “Help me!” screams from inside their very being they often battle their demons alone much too afraid to make that phone call. Fear does this to us. Many of us know what this is like. We too were good at hiding things. We really don’t know what we cannot see. Kindness can make all the difference. It’s a gift. Don’t be afraid to reach out and share our good intentions with others. As we’ve said – we do not know what we cannot see. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery know what it is like to to be anxious but responsible in regards to both life and recovery. Stressors can have a way of building up one by one especially as we develop the reality of taking on more responsibility in regards to life and the task that we need to do day after day after day. Daily task (what we are capable of taking responsibility for) should be what we excel at. For some it’s running Fortune 500 companies – for some it’s the taking our dog for a walk on the the walking trail. Both can be difficult, but in reality recovering people do measure up. We all have our strengths. We do what we can do. Anxious or not. Practice, breathing, prayer, and affirmations help to get us there. We get to understand the reality of this too shall pass. Participation in life and in recovery can can be some of our greatest joys. We can be responsible. Just do it. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery understand that in the beginning of recovery and in every day that follows is the beginning of a new day and a new awakening which prepares us for a day of abstinence and wellness. Wellness gives us the opportunity to be, or to become, people capable of living peaceful and contented lives. Such gifts are gifts that have sprang from a the gift of our very own desperation. Desperation is the little gremlin which led and leads us to cry out, or whisper, “God help me”. Though, with time passing as time does, we will understand such desperation loses some of its power and we have a quieter desperation that whispers, “Thank you”. Gratitude become an important part of our lives. Often we awake and say “Thank you.” It is the beginning of each and every day. We’re growing. It cannot help but happen. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time understand that when they are seeking whether they should abstain completely from mid altering substances or whether they should simply moderate and control their usage there is only one reliable answer which is we need to subscribe to the practice of total abstinence. Why? The reason is because it is not just how often we use or how much we use it is because of what happens to us when we put anything into our system that gets us high, buzzed, or wasted. We need to pay attention to that last word – wasted. We cannot stop and we cannot function when we try to moderate. Experience shows us this. Total abstinence is our only chance and it’s a much better reality. Life becomes manageable in recovery. Reach out, be free, and stay free. It’s a reliable reality. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery eventually understand that when we had hit our bottom it was the beginning of reality interrupted. A life of self-will running riot, meaning we thought only of participating in life while using, and using was our only way of coping with the realities of life, that bottom that we hit revealed to us we had no choice but to stop. This brought us to a desperation which we now understand was a gift, and we reached out for help very often with the plea, “God help me”. And help he did. Many of us needed a safe environment to get help. A hospital or a detox often became light in our turmoil. Our using life became totally interrupted. Opportunity was now knocking at our door. This was the start of a new life. Freedom found us. We had hope. Today we have peace. Reality is a wonderful thing today. We are grateful. Thank God for interruptions. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery understand the importance of perseverance. To maintain on going recovery we must stay connected with our supports and practice the reality of giving and receiving grace. Many recovering people believe we must have contact with others by frequently attending and participating in group settings where support can be plentiful if we know how to take what we need and leave the rest behind. Even if we believe we are unique in our journeys we will sooner or later hear something that we can identify with. A commonality most of us can relate to is we have a desire to remain abstinent which we do one day at a time. This reality reveals to us the importance of the other. When we see the other we share the common bond of together we can. Perseverance does pay off. It works. Peace.