Thanksgiving is a good time to be grateful for our lives, our health, our families, our freedoms. And for us addicts it's a good time to appreciate our recovery.
But like so many of our holidays - Christmas, 4th of July, Easter, Memorial Day - Thanksgiving seems to have drifted away from the reason it was created.
Instead of an emphasis on gratitude, the focus is on sales, and what kind of meals we're preparing, In this sentence I placed a link for those who are interested in learning more of the origins of this holiday and what it stands for.
I don't need a national holiday to find gratitude. I get up in the morning grateful to be alive, particularly after the kind of life I've led. For forty years I drank when I had the chance. I used heroin for 38 years. And yet, here I am today, relatively healthy and functional and enjoying my 31st year in recovery.
As we age we learn more and more about what life is about and our perspectives change. I know that when I got sober 31 years ago I thought that if I just had enough material things life would be wonderful.
But I've come to learn that when we have more stuff we just have more things to take care of and maintain.
Some of my associates have said that I should buy a bigger house. But why? It just means more work and responsibility. My gratitude lies in my relationships with friends and family - those with whom I can share the many blessings I enjoy each day.
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