Just thinking how perilous it is for an alcoholic like myself to become complacent. I looked up the definition and it sure describes the trouble being complacent can lead to. It states that it’s self satisfaction accompanied by a lack of awareness of the dangers underlying it.
All I have to know is that I have a disease for which there is no cure. I know that I rarely if ever think about a drink. About the only time it comes up is at meetings. However I do know what lies behind all of this. It’s a drink. Another drunk and probably in my case, death. That’s the way my drinking ended, when I hit my bottom.
I was told and I believe, after having observed so many alcoholics over time, that though the drink is gone, unconsciously my disease is still there. The drink is ever present to someone like me. All I have to do is forget and I’m in trouble. That’s why meetings and associating with alcoholics like myself is so important. I have to be reminded of what it is that I need to do. To practice this program each and everyday.
I recall that many years ago, even though I wasn’t thinking about a drink, I was probably “suffering” from complacency. A sense of nothing was wrong with me. I almost drank one night. Thankfully someone told me to pray and I did and it went away. I’ve always been grateful for what happened. But just the idea that I could slide into a state of mind, where I felt safe and not having to care or do anything to practice this program in my life, is a measure of the insanity which accompanies this disease.
That’s where the Steps come in. Especially the Tenth. A summary of the day. A survey and that followed by the Eleventh. Asking for the help I need. Really it’s me trying to practice the spiritual program on a daily basis. That’s what I know I need to do. What I learned from my sponsor and all those old timers.
The reason I was thinking about this is that one of our members opened up and confessed they were suffering from complacency. It really brought out the best in the group today and made me aware of how conscious my fellow alcoholics were of this hazard in our lives. It’s the complacent person, who ends up drifting away from meetings and the program and ends up drinking again, or just crazy. I think it was a wake up call for everyone. It was for me.
Anyway it made me aware of just how valuable meetings are to someone like me. A reminder that I can’t stay sober by myself. Makes me grateful to have been where I was today.