Recovery, for me, needs to come before my own personal wants and desires.
I say it that way because I sometimes hear ppl say "Recovery has to be a selfish deal...you have to put yourself first." I understand what this is supposed to mean but it's misleading, I believe. Putting recovery first means I need to do things that benefit my recovery even when I don't feel like it. This might entail, for example: going to that meeting I don't like/feel comfortable in/want to go to, doing some spiritual reading that I find difficult or boring, being of service to people I don't particularly "want" to be of service to, and so on. And make no mistake, doing all that "stuff" doesn't always line up with doing what I "want" to do....but sobriety has to be a priority for me so all the work that enhances my sobriety needs to come first.
.....and sometimes that means I "can't" go to the meeting, I can't sit and chat with this person about "recovery," I can't spend as much time here on SR as I want......sometimes it means I have to go help someone who's not an alcoholic and "in the program" because they're one of God's kids too.....and my sobriety is heavily contingent upon me being of service to my fellows.
**I should note, part of my overall recovery is sobriety (a very big part, for sure) and part of sobriety is not drinking.......but not drinking alcohol is a small part of overall sobriety (albeit a very important part).