When it was her turn to share in group the client was enthusiastic about her success in her sales job. She went on for several minutes about the sales she’d made and the bonus she expected to receive for her performance. Finally the facilitator intervened.
“How’s your recovery going?” he asked.
“It’s going good,” she replied.
“What step are you on?” the facilitator asked.
“I’m working on Step 4.”
His questioning went on in this vein for a few minutes as he led her back to the reason she’s in our program.
Our experience over the past 20 years is that people in recovery are often talented and hardworking and can achieve financial and business success. But sometimes our clients get sober and begin working and feeling healthy, then forget why they came to us in the first place. This is a dangerous diversion if it obscures our recovery.
The mantra I continually use is that those of us in recovery have only one problem: our disease. If we simply work on our recovery the rest of our life seems to work out. And it doesn’t always work out the way we might envision.
In my case, for example, I just wanted the pain to stop. And once it stopped my life slowly began to change almost without effort or planning on my part. Before I knew it I was back at work and in the process of starting my own business helping others get sober.
I never forget that everything good in my life flows from my sobriety, just like all the messes in my life came from my drinking and drugging. My recovery is the center of my life. If I take care of it God takes care of everything else.
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