One of those big hurdles in sobriety, for an alcoholic like me, came up today. Not that I was alone in my problems with this. So I had to focus on me. And that problem is acceptance.<\/p>\n
Before I came into this program, acceptance was a negative word to a drunk like myself. In truth, it was my dishonesty. Not that I ever thought about that at the time. It was only after I got in here I was faced with this. In fact, my dishonesty was pretty clear to my old sponsor and those old timers. It was something I was going to have to really work on.<\/p>\n
Of course the first step for me in breaking out of the dishonesty my super sized ego held me in, was the necessity of beginning to be open to a spiritual way of life. The Second Step. That opened the door and I came to believe in a Power greater than myself. My Higher Power.<\/p>\n
The Serenity Prayer uses that word in our request to accept the things I cannot change. And that sure did reveal my dishonesty. My ego told me I could change anything I wanted to. It was difficult, but I finally became able to face the fact that there is little I can change in this world. People, places, and things are out of my control. And the only thing I can change I found was extremely difficult. And that’s me.<\/p>\n
I discovered that the spiritual life could do for me what I could not do for myself. I needed the courage to change me and I found that I had to depend on my Higher Power. Took time in here to really begin to change because I found myself bumping into me. I had to begin to surrender and give up my wanting to control everything. Like a friend of mine in here always states, I had to learn to get out of the driver’s seat on the bus and go to the back of the bus and sit down.<\/p>\n
All this took surrender. I could look back at my getting honest and finding out what I needed to do to get sober. I had to surrender. Not just “give up”. I had to surrender 100 percent. Nothing less, if I wanted to stay sober. Thankfully I was so full of pain that I had no other choice. I surrendered, prayed for help, got the help and I was relieved of the power alcohol had over me. That example is what I had to lean on to grow along spiritual lines in here.<\/p>\n
Anyway I needed to stop and think about this. How to push my ego out of the way and ask for the help I need. The problem has not gone away. I’m still a human being, who often stumbles over my faults and defects. Yet I know all I need to do is to stop and surrender and ask my Higher Power for the help I need. Also I have the helping hands of others like myself in here, who are willing to listen. And I have to also listen to others, who are like me and know how to stay sober a day at a time. Makes me grateful that I have been given this gift. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of those big hurdles in sobriety, for an alcoholic like me, came up today. Not that I was alone in my problems with this. So I had to focus on me. And that problem is acceptance. Before I came into this program, acceptance was a negative word to a drunk like myself. In truth, … <\/p>\n