newby1961

October 1

Daily Reflections

LEST WE BECOME COMPLACENT

It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest
on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol
is a subtle foe.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 85

When I am in pain it is easy to stay close to the friends I have
found in the programs. Relief from that pain is provided in the
solutions contained in A.A.'s Twelve Steps. But when I am feeling
good and things are going well, I can become complacent. To put
it simply, I become lazy and turn into the problem instead of the
solution. I need to get into action, to take stock: where am I and
where am I going? A daily inventory will tell me what I must
change to regain spiritual balance. Admitting what I find within
myself, to God and to another human being, keeps me honest and humble.

c 1990 Daily Reflections Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, INC.

Veritas1

This reading made me realize that although I have been doing pages 86-88 in the morning, I never do the evening outline. When we retire at night...

I never take daily inventory.

I will try this tonight.

Thank you Newby!

RobC420

This was the topic at my daily meeting today. I didn't get a chance to share so here goes:

I remember going 6 months sober on my own and feeling that I was done drinking/using for good. Since I wasn't working a program, over time I never did anything to change/improve my life. Eventually I got my wisdom teeth pulled and was prescribed Vicodin. All the self-knowledge and intelligence in my brain should have told me not to take it, but I did. Thus began the most horrifying 9 months of my life.

A few days after I got sober and began working a program (at the end of those 9 months), I could look back on that split second descision to take that Vicodin and was dumbfounded at how foolish I had been. How easily I put aside all I knew about what I was and what would happen if I took it. That thought freaked me out and I became really paranoid that eventually I would again be complacent and use.

I then made a resolution to myself that I was more than happy to commit 1 hour a day for the rest of my life to go to a meeting in the hopes it would help me say no the next time I get faced with an oppurtunity to use. I was ready and nothing was going to stop me. I have gone to a meeting a day ever since (aside from the 3 weekends I spent at my folks cabin). Thats somewheres around 550 meetings. That blows my mind to think about it, but it's only a start on what I hope to be a lifetime of happy, joyous, and free living.

And with that I'll pass. Thanks.

newby1961

Hi Rob,

I relate so much to your story as that has happened to me in the past. I used to suffer from kidney stones and they are very painful so of course they load you up w/narcotics. Now I know people in the program who have had to take pain pills but they don't do it in secret they have either their sponsor or another person dole them out to them. I knew at the time I was going to relapse because i kept going to the ER a secret from everyone. Even sometimes telling a Dr you are an alcoholic/addict one would think they would be more careful but a lot of them don't get it. So what I learned is I am responsible for my own recovery. I am scared to death of ever having to take anything but I also know that I am not a martyr today so if I need them their are safe ways to take them. There is also literature on the subject.

Veritas so glad you are going to try that. I am so flaky when it comes to having a daily routine but I just do the best that I can. Hang in there.