Today's Gift

I get daily affirmation emails from Hazelden (a recovery org), and thought I'd share today's as it really seemed to speak to me and encourage me. Love y'all!  here ya go m

We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us... --Marcel Proust Many of us have known people new to recovery who enter a Twelve Step program only to encounter an enormous crisis or difficulty. It's tempting at that point to question the mercurial nature of life, which sometimes inflicts blows when someone is already down. Difficulties do serve a purpose, though. It's often in such moments of struggle that people become aware of the reality of their life and begin to make difficult choices. It's also then that the fellowship of our recovery group shines, offering its collective experience, strength and hope to the addict in need. Many of us have known someone *****fused or was unable to hear the message being offered at our meeting. It takes wisdom, patience, and detachment to know when to reach out to someone, and how far to go. The respect we feel for that person's recovery process as well as the faith we have in our Higher Power and the Twelve Step program can help us do our part and then let go. Life is a learning experience. I can learn the lesson of my life, but not someone else's.

Thanks Michelle, This reminds me of when I got sober in 2001, and my son came home from college addicted to heroin.  I only had 3 months of sobriety and also had to deal with my daughter's wedding, while dealing with being newly separated from my husband.  I clung to my sponsor and the meetings.  I was a blithering idiot, but I kept going to meetings and kept sober, ONE DAY AT A TIME. Thanks for the encouragement. Hugs, Trish

Thanks Michelle, This came at a perfect time for me too!   Marie

All I know is that problems certainly never go away, but facing them clean and sober is far easier than facing them altered.  In fact, I didn't face them at all altered.