Thursday, October 12, 2023

Oct. 12, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Living by Design

I love AA. It saved my life. When I was in the military, I found I could go to meetings anyplace in the world — walk in and say, “Hi, my name is Mike, and I’m an alcoholic.”

The program is designed for living, and if I live by that design, I live a good life. It works for me, because I want to be sober today more than I want to drink. And believe me, I wanted to drink every day.

The first ten years of my sobriety were in and out. I didn’t drink, but I didn’t surrender to God all the time. I came the closest I ever came to drinking again in 1994, when I was in a very sick relationship. Fortunately for me, I had friends in AA who dragged me aside and asked, “What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to get drunk? Because you’re headed that way.”

Thanks to them, I was able to end the toxic relationship and get back on the path to recovery where I belonged.

I will think of recovery as a verb – it is ongoing and fluid, something I practice every day.

— Mike F., U.S. Navy, 1959–1965/1972–1990

Hazelden Foundation

No comments:

Post a Comment