Last night, as I was watching a ballgame with one eye, I was also glancing through the BB with the other. As I did, something caught my attention. It was a story about an alcoholic woman, who was legally blind. She told of her difficulties both drunk and sober. What caught my attention was something that had been pointed out to me before by my sponsor and then by listening to Sandy B. It was about staying on track.
That metaphor brought up a lot of remarks made to me and memories from my past, which helped me to do just that; stay on track. Not to get off this path I’m on. The thought in How It Works in the BB, about how we can succeed in staying sober, if we follow the path of those who went before us. Of course, this alcoholic has wandered off many times, due to carelessness and sheer stupidity, but I got back before I got to the drink.
Sandy B. used the analogy of staying on track, when he referred to those little trains and tracks, which small children play with. The kind you wind up and put on the small oval track. The little train runs around so quickly and often flies off the track. But, as he said, you just pick it up and put it back onto the track.
He said that’s the way in AA. We individually are like those small trains. Often we fall off the track but someone picks us up and puts us back on track. In turn we help others who have fallen off and pick them up and put them back on track. It’s a we program. We can’t do this alone. If we want to stay sober, we stick together with our own kind. Alcoholics, bent on the same thing; staying sober.
I was thinking, after I saw that remark, what a great program I belong to. There are all kinds of clues and reminders everywhere, if I will but open my eyes and ears and take them in. If I will stay aware and not fall back into sleep walking. There’s always the BB and other literature, and then there are the meetings, where sitting among other alcoholics like myself I can get the help I need to stay on track. There are the 12 Steps and the spiritual principles to remind me everyday what it is that I need to do to stay on track. And then there are the newcomers and those returning from a drink, who have gotten off track, to remind me of my primary purpose.
Anyway, I was thinking about this last night and today, as the group was welcoming a newcomer at the meeting. Another reminder to me to stay the course, to stay on track. Makes me grateful that I was able to find this program and to be able to stay here with the help of my higher power and so many, who have expressed their caring and sharing, by keeping me on track.