Step by Step
Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023
“God willing, we members of AA may never again have to deal with drinking, but we have to deal with sobriety every day. How do we do it? By learning — through practicing the Twelve Steps and through sharing at meetings — how to cope with the problems that we looked to booze to solve, back in our drinking days.” -- Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, “They Lost Nearly All,” Ch 13 (“AA Taught Him to Handle Sobriety”), p 560.
Today, my Higher Power’s plan for my life and the 12 Steps can take me from dealing with drinking again because my challenge now is not drinking but living sober — living no longer in the problem but being a willing participant in the answer of living sober. In drinking, I experienced what it held for me — fear, anger, disgust, regret, loneliness, pain, resentment. In sobriety, the answers aren’t as clear because I either have lived too long in alcoholism or lived most of my life without sobriety. The key to living in the answer instead of the problem is, indeed, the 12 Steps and faith in the God of my understanding. And if they sometimes lead me to uncertain and even scary places because they are not familiar, I know they cannot be as frightening as the certainty of where drinking will take me again. Today, I choose — because now I have a choice — to live in the solution of sobriety and not in the problem of fighting not to drink. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2023
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