(I sure do miss the wise wisdom of Doc(Harry)…anyone else??)
I enjoy the freedoms that I have today. I am free to live where I want, I am free to be who I am, I am free to go where I want, I am free from addiction to alcohol, I am free from the dependence/addiction to other chemicals, I am free . . . free at last. Thanks to the Program of Alcoholics Anonymous and my Higher Power, God. Before recovery I convinced myself that I choose to live where I wanted, but the fact of the matter is that I chose places that were either isolated or in areas where no one paid attention to the “goings on” around them. I did not want others making note of who came and went from my place, or in what condition I came home in. I was deluded enough to think that it was “really none of their business.” I did not get to know my neighbors, unless they also drank and partied. I avoided neighborly chit-chat, and basically kept to myself. What I know now is that I had put myself into a sort of jail with my restrictions – today that is not the way I choose to live. I am part of a community, I am part of a Fellowship, I am a part of . . . I know my neighbors, by name. I dare to live in a community today, I no longer have to hide from the world. I am free to go to nice places today, good restaurants without the fear of getting drunk and making a fool of myself, or being ousted – the term 86’d was commonly heard when I drank. I no longer hear “We don’t want your kind in here.” Today I am welcomed and treated with respect. Today I have a sense of peace and contentment that I never had before. Today I am free – but that also means that I “maintain” my recovery by the daily practice of Spiritual Principles, and the “suggestions” of the Program. Today I am free from the obsession to drink – and I thank the God of my understanding for that, above all else.
THIS24 