Lately I seem to have had a couple of people trying to mind my business. Ordinarily I might just blow this off. But today there was a subtle non verbal invasion of my privacy, which, coupled with the other interferences, started to get under my skin.
What an invitation to resentments! Something I definitely don’t need.
I found the best thing I could do was to back off and avoid conflict and mind my own business. Otherwise I know from experience how crazy I can make myself and others, when I don’t. The spiritual axiom, that whenever I’m disturbed there something wrong with me, came into play. If there is nothing else I can find in my inventory, the fact that I’m disturbed is it.
Over time I have found that it’s not an easy task to practice these principles in all of my affairs. But just, as I was thinking about this, the answer came in a talk with someone in, of all places, Ireland. A woman friend in this program was kind enough to let me unburden myself and clear away the all of the stuff that was disturbing me. Amazing what a little 10th Stepping can do for an alcoholic like myself.
In the process of doing this, she invited me to talk about my alcoholism. That allowed me to take a look at why it is that I never want to drink again. I often stop and go back to my bottom to remember what it was that caused me stop drinking and come to this program for help, but rarely do I go through the process of what led to my bottom. The hellish nightmare I lived, being powerless over alcohol. I took a look at that tonight, as I shared this with her. No wonder sobriety looks so good to me.
There’s nothing like sharing our lives with another alcoholic. Only another alcoholic can begin to understand what we are talking about and where it is we’re coming from. It was like lifting the shade and opening a window, letting fresh air and sunshine in on the mold and mildew. They cannot live in the sunshine of the spirit.
The importance of others in our lives cannot be overemphasized. We need each other in order to stay sober. Sobriety, sober living, is not possible on my own. I knew, from my own experience, when I came here, that I needed all the help I could get, if I was to stay sober. My sponsor emphasized this and what I experienced today is an example of how it works.