“Why me?” “Woe is me!” “Poor, poor pitiful me!” “Why does X ALWAYS make me feel so lousy and sad?” Have you ever thought that there was a black cloud floating over you wherever you went? Raining misfortune all over you? Maybe the only time you can get some relief is when you self medicate with alcohol or drugs. Or hurting someone else so you can feel better yourself. If you believe that any of this applies to you, STOP RIGHT THERE! Happiness, Joy, and Freedom of choice are ALL inside jobs. The flip side of this ‘coin’ is also true. Grief, misery and sadness are also inside jobs. You can recover.
So, what should we do when we get into one of these emotional traps? First, of we are also addicted to mind altering substances such as alcohol and/or drugs, we do our best to not take that first drink or hit. To do this, I highly recommend joining AA and/or NA. Contrary to popular belief, all one has to do to attend or join is have the honest desire to stop. Then you are beginning to recover. Notice, I said “desire.” If still drinking, and you want to learn more, just COD, Come On Down. The Alcoholics Anonymous program is directed by a 12 Step Program for Recovery. Amazingly enough, only the first half of the 1st Step even mentions alcohol. ALL OF THE REST IS DEVOTED TO OUR THINKING!
As important as not actually drinking any more alcohol is to recover, the other 11 1/2 Steps of the recovery process are all about our thinking, not our drinking. The alcohol triggers the craving for more. Working on our thinking restores us to sanity. This is why alcoholism is a physiological disease. Change your thinking, change your life!
So, just what is recovery and where is it used? To recover covers a multitude of topics. Although usually thought of regarding alcohol or drugs, there is also recovery from poverty, physical and mental illness, loss of a loved one, bad relationship, physical and mental abuse, the list is actually endless. Recovery as taught by AA, although originated and mainly used for addiction to alcohol, can successfully be used by all. How? Back to “change your thinking, change your life!”
A great start to recovery is to not take that 1st drink or drug. Why? If you did not drink or drug TODAY, you now have choices. Maybe for the very first time in your life. If you CHOOSE recovery through AA, you will quickly learn that there is a Power greater than yourself that is ready, able and willing to do nothing but help and guide you to Happiness, Joy, and Freedom. You can call this Power anything that you wish, just acknowledge Its existence. It can be God, Allah, The Sun, the AA group. Since this Power is ALL and EVERYTHING, why not turn your heavy loads over to It? If you need help lifting a heavy object, don’t you ask for help from someone else? It is no different here. Ask and you will recieve. You can’t and don’t have to do it all alone!
To show how simple this program is, if you have done just the above, you have COMPLETED the first 3 Steps. This is a very simple program for very complicated folks. So, don’t try to complicate simplicity. Also, don’t confuse simple with easy. It does take some mental lifting on your part. BUT, you are not not under the influence of a mind altering substance so it can be done.
Finally, what do you CHOOSE for yourself? Do you CHOOSE to continue wallowing in the misery and dread of the past or do you CHOOSE to be Happy, Joyous, and Free? The CHOICE is yours. Please choose wisely! God bless you!
Please let us know what you think. We can be reached at Spiritualityandrecovery@gmail.com or 810-965-6140 usually within hours and many times instantly.
Please come join us at our AA Zoom meeting. It is every Monday through Friday, 3:00 PM EST, including holidays. Meeting ID is 6035280704. Password 399778. It is simple to locate the blogs and Facebook pages. Simply search #spiritualityandrecovery For the podcasts, just go to https://anchor.fm/james-b-boylan
