Twice a month I go from Phoenix, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada on business. When casual acquaintances hear of my trip they make comments like "have fun" or "you're so lucky!" When I tell them that I don't drink and don't gamble and am not a party guy, they really don't know how to react. I sum it up by telling them that I'm pretty boring.

But today, boring is just fine with me. During my 42 years of drinking and drugging I had more than enough so-called excitement. My alcoholism and drug addiction, got me into enough trouble to last three or four lifetimes. Because I'm an addict, I don't know anything about restraint. I could leave the house planning to go buy a bottle for later, and maybe not return home for three or four days. On one occasion, I went to a bank to pick up several thousand dollars from a safety deposit box and didn't return home for about 10 days. By the time I returned home I was broke, I had wrecked both my cars, and was sick from withdrawals.

On other occasions, I've been driving down the street with a new car, a pocket full of money and be stopped by police officers with guns. And it would be two or three years before I would return to freedom because of the legal issues associated with my arrest. I've been sitting in my living room watching television when all of a sudden my door would be would come crashing in, followed by a group of narcotics agents with a warrant for my arrest. Exciting? Yes. Dramatic? Yes. Boring? No. But today, I choose to live a boring, law-abiding, life.

I often comment in 12 step meetings that my life took an interesting turn once I admitted I was an alcoholic and drug addict. Since the day I made that admission in a detoxification unit I have not been arrested. And the only time I've been to jail was when I went there to talk to someone about getting sober, or to bring someone into the recovery program where I work.

After having lived for more so many years with alcohol and drug-induced drama in my life, it is refreshing to live without that kind of anxiety and so-called excitement. Today I live a “boring” life by choice.

Each day, my routine is pretty much the same. Three mornings a week I am at the gym for an hour lifting weights. The other three mornings I'm either on the streets on my bicycle, or doing aerobics at the gym. Then it's off to the office for five or six hours.

Someone once asked me "do you have to go to work today?"

"No," I responded, "I get to go to work today."

And that is the way I'm living my life and sobriety. Because I've had a reprieve from disaster, I get to do things today that I never imagined. I am enjoying the promises given to us in the 12 steps. I have my family back. I get to take vacations with them, and I have the financial wherewithal to once in a while assist them when they have problems. I have a job that allows me to help others in recovery.

I love my "boring" life.