Sept. 14, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023

“Why sit with a long face in places where there is drinking, sighing about the good old days? If it is a happy occasion, try to increase the pleasure of those there; if a business occasion, go and attend to your business enthusiastically. If you are with a person who wants to eat in a bar, by all means go along. Let your friends know they are not to change their habits on your account. …While you were drinking, you were withdrawing from life little by little. Now you are getting back into the social life of this world. Don’t start to withdraw again just because your friends drink liquor.” — Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 7 (“Working With Others”), p 102.

Today, what “good old days” of my drinking? If they were so good, why am I in recovery? And because I am in recovery, do I skirt responsibility for my alcoholism by expecting or asking others to accommodate me by not having alcohol in their houses or serve it when I’m there? Do I expect a friend to take me to a new restaurant if the one we frequented serves liquor? And if others don’t alter their habits to accommodate me, do I repeat what I did as my drinking progressed by steadily withdrawing? Today, I begin taking responsibility for my alcoholism and recovery by making changes from within and not expecting them from outside. By failing to do that, I am doing little else than living in the problem of struggling not to drink instead of the answer of sobriety. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2023