because you can’t keep it unless you give it away!
So, how do you give your sobriety away and keep it, too?
Let’s first check out loving and keeping love in your life. How long would you expect someone to continue loving you if you didn’t tell them and show them love regularly?
If I wasn’t shown love by my wife, I would have had real questions.
I love all kinds of beings and want to keep this love.
I love the very thought of my late wife. I love our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren, my sister, my cousins, my neighbors, my Greyhound Oreo, and my Spiritual Center family.
I love my extended family at the St. Andrews Soup Kitchen, fellow volunteers, and patrons alike.
Before retirement, I loved my co-workers, secretaries, and my jobs.
Now, let’s look at my sobriety and how I keep it.
First of all, I don’t pull people off of barstools to tell them about sobriety. I don’t break up a heated discussion at the soup kitchen by even mentioning their alcoholism or addiction.
No, I just separate them and get the subject of animosity off their mind.
I may bring it up later, though, telling them that I’ve been there, done that, and have the same T-shirt. If they are receptive, I will tell them where I was, where I am now, and how I got here.
I attend AA meetings regularly, even though I have been sober for 46+ years.
Why still attend, you may wonder? Because alcoholism is a progressive disease. Once you’ve got it, it is yours.
Like any other disease that wants to kill you, this does not disappear. It just goes into remission. By attending meetings and sharing my experiences, strengths, and hopes with others, I stay in remission.
When at meetings and other places where people want to hear more, I share my past and present with them so that I can keep my sobriety.
It is really that simple, folks, Not brain surgery! Don’t drink, go to meetings, and take an active part. This is what I do to stay sober.
SO WHAT CAN YOU DO TO GET AND KEEP SOBRIETY?
I cannot truthfully tell you how to get sober, let alone keep it if you get it.
The only thing that I can do is tell you how I have done it. Then, if you want sobriety too, you have a choice to make. Do you choose to do the same thing as I did or not? If not, you are on your own for finding a Plan B. I only can swear to Plan AA.
And I am happy, joyous, and free, Thank you, God!
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