How are you feeling right now and is it better or worse than the last day before you came into this program. If you are feeling worse, then God Bless you and best wishes on feeling better tomorrow and the rest of your tomorrows. If you are feeling better, then how far are you willing to go to keep what you have, keep getting better, and, in general, enjoy your life to the fullest? I know of nothing that is worthwhile that is free. An amazing thing about this program is that it is a very simple program to work, just that we are very complicated folks trying to figure it all out and analyze it. Why, because if we can figure it out, we can control it and, really, how well did we do with control before?
A wonderful thing about this program is that we don’t have to devote all of our thinking time to working it. This brings up the question “How do I know if I am working it right?” Another question with a very simple answer – If you are feeling well and doing all right, you are working the program well and if you are out of sorts in any way, you might look a little deeper into matters. The simplest answer is to just do the very next right thing and continue doing this. “How do I know if I am doing the right thing?” If it feels genuinely good, it is right because we now have a true conscience, not the overpowering one of having to say “I’m sorry” on a regular basis.
I have seen too many who came into the program, stayed for varying lengths of time and then left, usually saying that they now knew what to do. Some came back and told us about it and how it was worse than before. Some didn’t come back and went to jail, prison, or died a horrible death. Some of these deaths were suicides, no matter what the coroner’s report would say. We see news stories of one car fatal crashes and many times a line will add that alcohol or drugs were involved. I remember when I was new to the program and trying to find a common denominator to the reasons given by those that had gone back out and found it in a hurry – they either slowed down considerably or stopped completely going to meetings.
A great plus for this program is that it allows us to finally have some balance in our lives. The first year or so can be quite intensive and then slowly but surely it eases back into devoting more time to whatever family we have left, doing a better job at our place of employment, enjoying our recreation even more and just having a balanced, happy life.
Stopping going to meetings is not in my game plan. I am positive that I have another drunk left in me. What I do not know is if I have another recovery left. Do you wish to gamble some more with your life? If so, then go for it and I pray that you live through it. If you are through gambling with your life and all lives around you, then don’t stop going to your meetings and join us in our genuine feelings of peace and serenity.