So just how do we keep our Recovery train from derailing? Everyone works the program different. i try my best to offer suggestions that might help somebody suffering from the disease of addiction. are you calling your sponsor often enough? are you going to enough meetings? are you working the steps in your everyday lives? are you reaching out to the newcomer and giving them your phone number? do you pray daily to your higher power? what works for me might not work for you. but for me when i wake up in the morning i do steps 1,2 and 3. i also thank God for another day clean. the one who has the most clean time today is the one who got up first.

lately i have read a lot of bitching about how miserable people's lives are today. and that's okay if it helps to keep you clean another day. we have got to put the past behind. it's also to have goals and dreams but we have got to stay in the present. just because i have a couple of decades in the program that has saved our asses time and time again does not make me an expert on recovery. to tell the truth the longer i stay around the less i truly do know about Recovery. i do know that if i do not stay diligent and on top of what i am doing to make my life better on a daily basis then i am getting complacent in my personal program of recovery.

I read where a lot of people say it's so much easier to just stay in the pile of Sh#t i am already sitting in. it's all about becoming the person God truly meant us to be. yes we have all wasted years of our lives chasing the same thing and never found it again. don't ever think that your wasting time trying to change your lives. the peace and serenity i have today is worth the 22 years i used. sure a lot of things have happened in my life since i got clean. i never thought at 52 i would have a major heat attack and a triple by pass, a year later i had another heart attack and had to have a by pass fixed,IN january of 2010 i had to have an angioplasty to blow out a vein in my heart. but also all the grieving i had to go through when I lost 8 family members in 2009. but when i look at myself today it has made me a stronger person. i still have faith, hope, and love for my fellow addicts.

you know unforetunatly not everyone is going to love us, not everyone is going to respect us, but to stay clean and to dedicate the rest of your life to staying clean and to be able to continue to help the still suffering addict. it's all up to you and what you want to obtain in your life today. i wish you all luck, love and the determination to stick to your recovery guns and make your life what you truly want it to be. remember that recovery is a journey not a destination and use the rest stops God provides along the way. stay clean and continue to be good to yourselves.

NA hugs and love,

JJ