Be Kind Because …

Be Kind Because …

It was hard to watch my friend self-destruct. He’d been in recovery for so long. He’d been so successful, so happy. He’d even been named employee of the year at work. But now he was spinning out of control. Forgetting that resentment is poison for alcoholics, he had...
Emotional Sobriety

Emotional Sobriety

Many years ago, I heard about “emotional sobriety” and wondered if I would ever experience it. As someone new to recovery, I believed that emotional sobriety came only with age, experience, and a lot of hard work—something that seemed far out of reach, as I was...
Vigilance

Vigilance

Sobriety comes at a high price. Every person who has suffered and recovered from any addiction knows that they’ve had to come to the place of total failure and utter helplessness before God could take over and change their lives. And despite the fact that many have...
Duty-Bound

Duty-Bound

The more I learn, the less I know. I think of that old adage often. It’s been attributed to any number of folks from Socrates to Einstein, but apparently no one knows for sure who came up with it. However, the source of that paradox is not nearly as important as...
Worth the Effort

Worth the Effort

It feels a little strange to admit this, but at times, I’ve wondered whether my efforts to share my recovery with others actually does any good. Alcoholism is a difficult disease, and there are times when it seems like no one really wants recovery. People I’ve been...