At the TLC employment center last week I was encouraging our clients in their efforts to stay sober during the challenges of being newly sober and finding work. One of the things I asked them to remember is why they came to the program. And the reason, of course, is they came in an effort to try to save their lives.

I shared with them what a sponsor told me a long time ago, that my disease is trying to kill me. I asked them to not pay too much attention to how they felt during this time, to simply stay focused on the fact they were living in a halfway house recovery program and why they were there.

Another point I made was they needed to look at themselves positively. I told them they were all tough people or they wouldn't be sitting in that room. Because of what addiction had put them through many of them had suffered through difficult times. They had lived on the streets. They'd been in jail and lost relationships, jobs, homes. I told them some people don't survive those kinds of negative experiences.

I asked them to realize they could use that toughness, the toughness that let them survive so many bad experiences, and make that work in their behalf. I believe if we addicts use half the energy to stay sober, as we did to ruin our lives, we’ll be wildly successful.