Everyday I try to think of things, which will help me to stay sober a day at a time. In other words, right this minute. Not the future or the past, but now.
Along with that I know I have to remember what it was that got me here. It wasn’t my thinking, as such. It was alcohol. That’s my own problem, and the problem of anyone like me. And alcoholic. I have a genetic disease, which has made almost all the males in my family alcoholics, who all have suffered and died from alcohol. I’m the first one I know, who got sober.
I hear others, at times, who state that now that they are no longer an alcoholic, because they are no longer drinking alcohol. They state that their real problem is their thinking and living. That makes me worry about their future in here.
I always go back and think about over time how many alcoholics I know, who went back out and drank again, after quite a while in here, and then died. Some, I know, spoke the same way, as what I heard. And some how they got rid of their thoughts about alcohol.
But alcohol was always there.
I go back to the lines in the BB, which states that there may come a time in here, when we might have no mental defense against that first drink. I can testify to that. I ran into that and almost drank, except my wife told me I needed to go outside and pray. I did and it changed me and kept me from drinking. Always grateful for her help and grateful to my Higher Power, who relieved me.
I guess that’s why I and so many others stay focused on that First Step throughout our time in here. I pretty much go back to that very much. Almost every day. I want to stay sober and I’m so grateful that the God of my understanding relieved me of alcohol. That First Step. One hundred percent, when I surrendered.
Anyway I was reminded of that today. I know that I’m here to stay sober one day at a time. Right now. I learned not to project into the future, but to stay right where I am. Nor to go back into the past. And I’m so grateful for all the help I have been given by my Higher Power, my old sponsor, those old timers, and all those today, who helped me to grow along spiritual lines, and to put these Steps into action. I need to say thanks and do the next right thing. The Eleventh and Twelfth Steps.