What a great subject today. Acceptance. It’s not just the topic, it’s the results. What people expressed, when talking about this.
In the beginning of getting sober that’s when most of us had the most trouble accepting. After all, it’s really hard to accept, when we all knew all about everything and what was being proposed, as the way others got sober, was unacceptable.
I had to laugh at what I was thinking, as others talked. That line in the BB in How It Works, where it says “at some of these we balked”. Really? It wasn’t “some” for me. I balked at all of them. Thank my Higher Power for the man, who was my sponsor. He pointed out something I never realized. That what “I knew” was of little use in this program. I was to learn that I didn’t know. I didn’t know anything about living for one thing. I thought all I had to do was not drink. Wrong.
Eventually, everyone admitted, we all began to accept. Took a while for many of us, but persistence paid off. I didn’t have “knowledge” I learned. I had “ignorance” about many things. And, of course, the first had to do with a Higher Power and a spiritual way of life. The spiritual solution. A stumbling block for many.
Anyway, it was obvious what acceptance led all of us to. Not just a better way of life, but life itself. It wasn’t just accepting that I was an alcoholic, but the unmanageable way of life I had been living. The insanity. The lack of power, not just over alcohol, but most everything else. People, places, and things. And that’s where the need for my Higher Power came in and changed everything.
One person said that, when she learned that she didn’t have to like everything she had to accept, that it opened her mind for the first time.
Someone said that they were actually happy they were an alcoholic. Accepting that fact they said has led to a wonderful way of living. I couldn’t agree more. If I wasn’t an alcoholic, I doubt I’d have ever found this way of life. If it took being an alcoholic to come in here, then I would have to say “how wonderful”.
And, I guess, the initial acceptance that we all had to take in is the fact that we can never ever drink alcohol safely. Never again. I was glad to find out that I never had to drink again. But, from what I heard, that was an initial problem for some. But it changed over time like we all have about everything we have learned and experienced in here.
Time takes time. I know that wasn’t mentioned, but I also know from experience that most of us wanted whatever it was to be done right now. No waiting around. How painful is waiting around for the solution? But it was just those difficulties all of us had to go through, which eventually led to surrender and acceptance. Learning how to turn things over. A process. And the fact any of us have made progress in this area is proof that this program works.
Anyway, I got a lot out of this subject today, as we talked about staying sober. It just emphasized how important my sobriety is today.