Taking Credit

At a 12-step meeting yesterday I watched a man receive his two year chip. As he introduced himself he pointed at a man sitting at the rear of the meeting room and said "I owe it all to that man sitting in the back row."

The man he pointed to is the director of a local recovery program who's been in the business for many years. While the tribute was nice, and well taken, the man was wrong.

All of us are responsible for our own recovery. Just as we were responsible for our own drinking and drug use, we are also responsible for our own changes.

No one ever held any of us down and poured alcohol down our throat. Nor did they force heroin in our arm.

We're the ones who go to the meetings. We read the Big Book. We're the ones who spend time listening to our sponsors. And other old timers in the program. We’re the ones who practice the principles.

Gratitude is wonderful and necessary. But we must also recognize our own hard work when it comes to our recovery.

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