Hi Again,
I would appreciate some advice. I was fired 18 months ago and am still very upset about it. I live in Japan and am an underemployed English as a Foreign Language Teacher. I have since April been working about 9 hours a week. Been sober for 3 months. Had a few relapses since returning to Japan in September 2008. There is a AA group here in my small town but no one speaks English so I don't get a lot out of the meetings. There is a American Catholic priest who lives in a nearby city and runs the local AA groups. I did my step 5 with him. I have gotten to step 8 and have been unable to move on since an ammend involves repaying a debt to some people in Canada, going back to 1995. It is not much ($450 Cdn), but not being fully employed, with a wife and two kids, I am unable to pay it back right now, and hence move forward with the steps.
Yes, sobriety is a priority for me, but the anxiety of my employment situation knaws away at me. There have many times where I tell me wife in a fit of frustration that it would be better if I were to relocate to somewhere else in Japan like Tokyo to find work, or go abroad for work and just send back remittances of pay. My wife stresses the importance of keeping the family together, especially since the kids are so young (3 months and 2 1/2 years old).
I guess I agree with the AA advice about it's not worth having a great job if your personal life is in shambles, but after 18 months from when I was fired and not working full-time, I feel the need to address the career part of my life, hoping that if I get this in order, other things will work out. Yes, surrender to my HP, but does my HP want me to work. Does he want me to change careers?
Patk