At a 12-step meeting today a 20-something man with a week sober lamented his situation.
“I’m living at this halfway house and can’t find a job,” he began. “And there are negative people there, guys who don’t want to be there. Also, I don’t have a sponsor.”
He had a list of worries. Some people he’d grown up with were starting families or businesses. And here he was with no money or marketable skills, living in a halfway house with negative people.
After the meeting a few men with years of sobriety talked to him.
One pointed out that there were other ways to look at life. Instead of envying those who are doing well, he might look at some of his friends who didn’t survive their alcoholism. Or remember those who ended up in prisons, hospitals or cemeteries because of their drinking adventures.
Another suggested he might feel better if he stayed in the moment rather than play a comparison game about what he did or didn’t have.
The essence of their advice was that he was powerless over nearly everything that concerned him – and that if he lived his life a day at a time he might have a chance to recover from his disease.
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