I’m glad to report things are quiet.
Today marks 63 days on my recovery journey. That’s 9 weeks without alcohol.
As each milestone has come, they are a less surprising but just as precious. I honestly didn’t imagine this far out when I quit drinking. I was just trying to escape the alcohol trap and the powerless feeling of my addiction. Life is opening up in ways I couldn’t have imagined.
Last week was a breakthrough for me as I worked through step 5 with my sponsor. Together we read from the Big Book and these promises began to feel real in my life.
I’m still not “saved” again by anyone’s definition, but I’ve started praying again, seeking a renewal through steps 6 and 7. That’s giving me hope to look ahead to the next steps in the program.
It gets better – just like all my recovery friends have been saying.
Now I’m starting to believe the longer list of AA promises (read at my local meeting).
If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through.
We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.
We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.
We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace.
No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others.
That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear.
We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows.
Self-seeking will slip away.
Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change.
Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us.
We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.
We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.
Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us – sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them.
That’s my update for today. Thank you for reading and as always I welcome your feedback. Your comments have been an encouragement for me to keep blogging about my recovery story.
I remember feeling the same way early in sobriety. Suddenly I had 30 days, then 60, 90, six months, nine months and finally a year. As with you, I NEVER imagined I would ever escape the hold my addiction had on me. Last year someone reminded me of my anniversary. For me, it was just another day. But then I thought, “Holy crap, it’s been nine years?” The promises have come true in my own life in so many ways. It does get better as time goes on. Life is just that – life. There are days where I feel like I’ve been thrown under a bus; I struggle. But those are few and far between. Other days, I may be in a rut and suddenly I’m laying down for the night thinking, “Did I just do that? (in a good way)” I think the first and last sentences of the promises say it all, “we will be amazed before we are half way through . . . They will always materialize if we work for them.”
Congratulations on 9 years. That’s am encouragement to me, more than you know.