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Old 11-12-2016, 11:59 AM
  # 28 (permalink)  
tomsteve
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Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: northern michigan. not the U.P.
Posts: 15,281
Originally Posted by steve-in-kville View Post
I was reading through some older threads and started to see a trend.... how many of us were somewhat mislead to believe that just by sobering up, all our problems would just go away instantly?? And we'd be happy and rich and life would be full of kittens and rainbows.

But, once sober, we realized that the miracles don't happen on the second day. Or the second week. Life can still suck pretty bad. We still have bills, maybe legal problems and life to live.

But, with time, things do get better. It just doesn't seem to happen as fast as we think it should.

Am I right?
I was quite a miserable wreck when I got sober. I really didn't know if the program of AA and all the footwork involved was going to make a difference, but I had hope. and I surely didn't want to be miserable any more. I didn't stop drinking and walk into AA to continue being miserable.
I knew it was going to take T.I.M.E. to become unmiserable, but I did want it quick, but I knew that 36 years of living with the last 23 of those stuck in a bottle...welp, it wasn't going to be an overnight fix....
if that makes sense.
so I put in the footwork for what I wanted.
at 90 days I knew something was different in me but I wasn't sure what. I kept working the program.
at a year, I was honestly to a point I loved myself and happy with life.

for me, the very first miracle happened on the first day I attended an AA meeting- I got the courage to walk into an AA meeting. that was a miracle.
somewhere in there I realized the program would work. that was a miracle.
somewhere in there I had a very strong craving to drink- quite a few of them actually and had to take it one second at a time. that was a miracle.
then 13 months in another miracle happened. I was diagnosed stage 3 melanoma.
and I didn't want to drink nor did I drink through the 3 1/2 year battle.

buuuuut
I can still have times I want what I want and I want it now.
but the miracle is I know that's just me being selfish.

in short, I wasn't mislead to think it was an overnight matter nor would elimination of alcohol be a miracle cure, the world would be great, and everything would just be dandy. I knew for a fact it was going to take T.I.M.E. and footwork.

keep putting in the footwork,steve! its pretty awesome to read the growth!
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