A lesson in honesty

I am finally reaping a reward for being honest. In February I passed my state's social work licensing examination. I then filled out the application, and answered all of the questions honestly. Question 7 asked if in the past five years I had an active addiction. Well, in 2001, I was drinking after my husband moved out. It was part of a relapse. I stopped drinking and went back to AA in September 2001. Well, I did not have five years of sobriety, I had four and a half. So, I answered honestly, NO. In the explanation portion, I explained the truth of the matter. I had been sober in AA for 8+ years, I relapsed toward the end of my marriage and stopped drinking shortly after my husband filed for divorce. Well, I got a letter from the state's Social Work Board that I had to be evaluated by the Professional Health Monitoring Board. I called them and they referred me to a rehab in my part of the state. I met with the counselor and he cleared me for license in March. BUT, for some unknown reason, the Professional Health Monitoring Board did not receive his evaluation. I started playing phone tag with my case manager, and she kept not returning my phone calls for weeks. When I would finally hear from her, it would be that she had not received my eval. This back and forth drama went on from March till Friday. On Thursday I got frustrated and said something negative about state workers. My sister works for a neighboring state, and told me to call our state representative. I did, and his secretary contacted the department in charge of Social Work licensing. Together they got my license application processed and called me on Friday with my license number and the assurance that it would be in Monday's mail. All during this process, people kept telling me I should have lied on the application. I was taught early in recovery that we are as sick as our secrets. My Social Work license is my life's career goal. It is my ticket to the career I dreamed about for years. I could not obtain it dishonestly. The sad thing is, there were moments, fleeting as they were, that I thought, "F*** it. I should just get drunk and forget this whole mess." Thank God they were few and far between. Hope this makes sense. Hugs, Trish

Ya know, for those of us in recovery, there comes a point where we are just tired of the dishonesty and shiftiness. If we want to live life on life terms, I sure don't want to pretend what I'm not. A person with time under his/her belt is so much more aware and mature than a normie who has never faced adversity. Every bit as much as someone who has been to war vs. someone who stayed home in their Dad's hardware store. But we don't have to defen ourselves. However, we have to be prepared for ignorance. Gives me an appreciation for what minorities have suffered all of these years. Vicki