Interesting remark from a person after our meeting today. The group was talking to a relative newcomer about the importance of meetings today. Each person, who spoke, talked about what it was that made them get sober and the effect going to meetings made on them. How they got sober and stayed sober by attending meetings. How they needed the group to help them stay sober.
It was outside the meeting that a person said that every time we opened our mouths we lied. I think I laughed at that. The truth is that this person was lying to them self. They seemed to be a street person from their dress and the way they acted and what they said. Was I like that, when I came in?
My best guess is that people, who are still drinking and can’t stop, find it hard to believe that alcoholics like themselves can actually get sober and stay sober. That they never drink again. They don’t want to hear that.
This made me think about what I said about the man, who told me on my last day drinking that men and women met and stayed sober together, and that if I wanted to stop drinking he would take me there. And he did. I went and never ever took a drink again. I said that up to that point that no matter what I tried I couldn’t stop drinking. And all of that changed, when I met the group and they talked about alcohol and drinking and how they changed their lives. That inspired me. It gave me hope. They had the power not to drink and I wanted that.
Was that a lie? No. It’s the truth. Like everyone else, my experience, strength, and hope. But hard to believe, if someone is still drinking. I know I have seen that before. How many times I have seen others come to meetings and then go right into a bar down the street. Like me back then, I couldn’t stop drinking. Neither can they. We must be lying.
What changed for me and all those sober people I have known through the years? The spiritual program which is given to us. The 12 Steps that brought about a spiritual awakening, which restored me to sanity. A true miracle as far as I’m concerned. A new freedom and a new happiness. And if we don’t want that? We drink again and again.
I didn’t want a spiritual way of life, when I came in. I just wanted to stop drinking and never to drink again. Alcohol had nearly cost me my life. Why would I want to go back? But then I discovered that I was either going to live a spiritual life or go back and die. That made up my mind and pushed me to surrender to this program and a Higher Power. Thank the God of my understanding for that.
Anyway, this person’s remark made me stop and think, why would anyone say that? Just another reminder of how much I want to stay sober. I need to be grateful for what I have. Sobriety and it’s not because of me. It’s my Higher Power and the people in these rooms.