Sometimes those old slogans come back and can hit you right between the eyes. How much needed they are.
Today two of them came up. First things first and live and let live.
Almost everyone came up with not taking a drink for the first one. They talked about their being alcoholics and the necessity of remembering that they are and that’s first above everything else. To stay sober and try to help another alcoholic. I love it, when we can remind each other just why we are there.
May seem obvious, but if it was, why do some go back out and drink again? Could it be, as some said, that, when we put something else ahead of it, we eventually forget? How many I have known in the past, who put their careers and families first, drank again, and lost the job and the family. And some their lives. I definitely want to remember what’s first on my daily agenda. That’s why talking about it is so important. Not just for me, but for everyone in the room.
The other subject, live and let live, is a great reminder to me to mind my own business. Everyone admitted that this is a challenge for people like us. The alcoholic with our alcoholic minds. We’re so often overwhelmed with our self importance. We’ve just got to mind other peoples business. And develop a resentment as a result. That seemed to be the judgment of many in the room.
If only I can remember to step back and let the business of others pass me by. To remember to keep my mouth shut. To try not to pay attention to what is going on with others. Doesn’t matter what the relationship is. How many times I opened my mouth with my grown children only to regret it. You’d think I would have known better. But no. My ego, my pride, my “ownership” stepped in and got the best of me.
The danger to this kind of interference in the lives of others is to wipe out of my mind just what we talked about first: first things first. When I find myself stirred up by stuff like this, my mind and my emotions take first place and blind me to everything else in my life. I can well see why anger and resentment has driven others back to the bottle. Not minding my own business is a road hazard on this pathway in staying sober.
Anyway, after the meeting I found I had to take a moment and sit down and think about these two slogans and their importance to me. Just another reminder why meetings are so important to someone like me.