Gilmer

Often when we first get sober we have no idea what to do with ourselves. We’ve built our lives around chasing a buzz, getting that out-of-the-ordinary surge of great pleasure that leaves the dull reality of our lives in the dust.

At first chasing a chemical rush seems like a no-brainer: to a humdrum existence we can add great thrills just from drinking or smoking—that is, till we throw away our lives or ruin our health.

And often the chemicals just stop working.

So we find ourselves in a desperate mess and decide to get sober.

But we have no idea how else to fill our time; people suggest finding hobbies or volunteering, but those things seem overwhelming and lackluster compared to the effortless chemical highs we used to get with the snap of a finger.

In this case, act and the feelings will follow—“fake it till you make it.”

Pick something—anything—and plunge into it with everything you’ve got. Don’t worry that you have no real talent, or it seems forced. So often we know full well that we’ll never be truly superb at things, so we don’t bother even to learn about them.

If we can’t be perfect, we don’t want anything to do with it.

So we’re left with the despair of believing everything sucks, and we suck.

But often the best is the enemy of the genuinely good.

Just because you’ll never sing in the Metropolitan Opera does not mean you have to avoid music!

At least take the time to learn about something new. Pick an interest and invest your energy in it. “All hard work yields a profit:” in time and with perseverance you will see yourself improve.

And the more of yourself you invest, the more you will begin to care. With consistent effort you will see real progress—and it will please you. Your interest will become more and more genuine. It will become your treasure—“and where your treasure is, there your heart is, also.”

Furthermore, when you love something, you impart real beauty to it. Even though it may not be the Metropolitan Opera, you will have participated in true beauty. The beauty comes from you.

When you recognize that beauty, that’s when an interest becomes a passion. You will want to give it your all.

When have invested your very best, given your all, and seen It through to completion, you will experience a deep, exhilarating rush that puts a chemical rush to shame!

The physical and mental intensity of the chemical rush is far outweighed by the profound mental and emotional rush of your own creation of beauty and excellence.

With a chemical rush, your consciousness checks out and lets a substance take over—but the rush from natural endorphins and adrenaline engages every fiber of your being.

So go about learning to make beauty! Nothing will be more worth your effort!