Life is good

[Tom G]

Hello,

I was with a group of friends that ‘took a meeting’ to some younger folks in a short term treatment facility. We were sharing our experiences, strengths and hopes and near the end I realized that, in general, we talked about our active addiction times as bad and recovery as good.
So I mentioned that not every day in recovery is wonderful; most days are good, some aren’t.
My friend Mike said, “Life is life. It keeps going on whether in recovery or not”.
I thought that was profound. We focus on recovery and how to stay sober. I know that there are times that I forget life goes on, no matter what I’m focused on. When something bad happens I can be surprised and the instinct may be to return to old ways of coping…for me, that’s drinking.
Just because I’m in active recovery doesn’t mean sh*t won’t happen in my life. Being in recovery doesn’t mean I have a “magic shield” that protects me from life’s curveballs.
The difference between me and a ‘normal’ person is the ‘normal’ person doesn’t have uncontrollable drinking in their bag of coping skills.
Knowing that bad stuff will happen and that the bad times are temporary helps me not seek out drinking as a coping mechanism.
Still learning to be sane and sober…
Tom G.

[Heidi Quist]

Hey Tom –
Wow…yeah, I’m still learning after 5 YEARS…how to be sane and sober. Life’s situations change over and over so I have to learn to adapt to what I am dealing with at that present time…like “Mike” said Life will go on whether I am sober or not. I have learned that staying sober has definitely given me the tools to handle “life” much easier. Simple program for complex people I always say…keep it simple and stay strong people! – Heidi

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