I wrote this in response to another post on SR but I never hit the "post reply" button. I don't know why
Your post reminded me of how bizarre I thought the statement "I'm grateful to be an alcoholic" was to me when I first heard it.
In time, I began to realize that if I wasn't an alcoholic in recovery, I don't think I would ever:
- realize there's a difference between isolating and insulating [myself with just a handful of close, trusted people]
- know that resentment is about living in the past, fear is about living in the future
- know that recovery is about honesty - honesty with yourself and "if you have a skeleton in the closet, take it out and dance with it"
- be truly empathetic to another person's pain
- put God and other people before myself
- admit that I do not control the universe
- be in awe of the simplest pleasures in life
- know that I really can start the day over anytime, anywhere
- know that there is strength in surrender and the only failure is in not trying
- know that it's more important to be happy than it is to be right
- realize that nobody can make me feel anything unless I allow them to
The list grows longer each day I'm in recovery and I truly am grateful to be a work in progress.