24 Hours is a Long Time

[varkam]

I wanted to check in here. Things have been kind of rough for me, but the past several days I've decided that I needed to make some changes in the way I have been working my program. To be honest, things have been rough because I haven't been working my program. I had taken my will back, figured that I could run things my way for a while. I think we all know how well that works.

So I have decided to go back to basics, working another first step at the moment. I was thinking the other night, though, and I realized that 24 hours is a long time. I realized that if someone can make it 24 hours, then they have the ability to work the program. If someone can make it a day without using, drinking, or drugging, then they can do this. Then I can do this.

I shared that the other night at a meeting, and someone said that it helped them. It made me feel good to say something worthwhile to someone else - helped me to remember one of the reasons I'm even in recovery.

On other fronts, things are tough - but I realize that I perspective has been all wrong. For instance, I wake up in the morning and think to myself "Oh God, I have to go to class! I have to get all this reading done! I have to go to a meeting! I have so much to do!"

I don't have to do anything.

I get to.

Thanks for reading.

[NMDemDist2]

1. attitude is everything dude. I can't change what's happening, I can only change

my reaction to it. Here's a link to Dr. Paul's story, it has several wonderful grains of truth to help

:pals:



http://home.earthlink.net/~briggsmorebeach/Library/DoctorAlcoholicAddict.htm

[Kajsa]

2. You helped me, Varkam!

"I don't have to do anything.

I get to."

Thank you for reminding me.

:) :pals:

[Joe Chi Minh]

3. In a way, each day IS a new life, isn't it? "Sufficient unto the day...."

I expect when you "go through the mill", you do get valuable insights like you had, and can get a richly-deserved buzz from passing them on. I loved that bit, "I get to do them" or something like that.

I found in my own life that attitude is everything, and maximising the positive by using a particualr lens to look through is the key to a new life, in a sense. Of course, everyone can feel very low from time to time, but the key to that is to remind yourself that it will pass, like everything else, and tomorrow morning you could feel as bright as a button, however daunting the prospect in one regard or another, on a purely cerebral level.

Good to get your news, and you're in there swinging.

[Dorian Gray]

4. I hope you don't mind

but I am going to send those words to my husband. He hit a year just last month, and I've been so proud of him. However, he's been saying recently that he's so busy with his new sober life. The meetings, his job, and the 20 other things he took on to keep himself busy so he doesn't go to the bar to drink. He's stopped enjoying those things, and they've become unpleasant obligations much of the time. I'd love for him to take a moment to reflect on your words. Like you, he doesn't have to do any of those things. He gets to. And he enjoys them much more than sitting in a bar after work for 7 hours. (And I enjoy them much more, too.)

:)