Wisdom Of The Rooms - 2017

[bluidkiti]

July 17

Quote of the Week

“Recovery is an education without a graduation.”

One of the first things I asked my sponsor was how long I would have to go to meetings. I had been going to meetings everyday – 90 in 90 – getting commitments, showing up early to greet, etc. I was neglecting things at home and was wondering when I might “graduate” to not needing them anymore. He told me that when I got to the point where I wanted to go to meetings, that’s when I could decide whether to attend them or not.

While that didn’t make sense to me – secretly I never thought that I would want to attend meetings – I followed direction and kept coming back. As I learned more about the disease of alcoholism, I learned that I could never cure it. What I had was a daily reprieve from the insanity of the first drink so long as I maintained and fortified my spiritual condition. Each night, I was told, while I slept, alcoholism was in the closet doing pushups and getting stronger. This scared me, so I kept my commitments and meetings.

By following my sponsor’s suggestions, I have been able to achieve long term sobriety and much peace and serenity in my life. When “normal” people ask why I still go to meetings, I explain that it’s like someone who was overweight and out of shape. When these people go to the gym, exercise, and eat better, they tend to get fit. In order to stay that way, they need to continue going to the gym and to eat well. Same thing for me: if I want to keep my recovery, I need to keep going to meetings and not drink.

Today, I want to go to meetings because I want to keep what I have.