July - One Can Start the Year over Any Time They Want

The Year 2011 is half over and I am quite pleased by the first half.  It has been very difficult.  I lost my job with a law firm because of this blog.  But it has given me the impetus to doggedly and vigorously pursue my dreams.  I have taken the exam for Florida Certification as a Certified Addiction Specialist.  I took the Stonebridge University program as a Substance Abuse Counselor and passed with distinction which is the highest grade that I could receive.  This was nice given my sense of failure in other areas of my life.  As this year is half over, I am resolved to write more often and more substantively on this blog. 

Ironically, I have witnessed the consequences of three people who are very close to me relapsing - two are in the hospital and one went from homelessness to having a great job, a nice home and new car and put it all in jeopardy in an incredibly self-destructive relapse.  I don't know how to help them.  I only know what I need to do today.

I believe that what a woman in St. Petersburg, Florida told me once.   If you do these 5 things to stay sober, you will not relapse:

1.     Say a prayer in the morning asking God for help - HELP = His Ever Loving Presence.
2.     Talk to another alcoholic or addict and share your experience, strength and hope.
3.     Go to a meeting, help someone, or share in a fellowship.
4.     Read some recovery literature.
5.     Say a prayer at night thanking God for His HELP.

It works; it really does.

Becoming Wiling to Do the Things I Did Not Want to Do...

June is the month of Willingness...becoming willing to have God remove all of my defects of character. For the previous 5 months, I have been working on honesty and as I became more honest, I worked on feeling and thinking hopefully. Feeling Hope. As I became more honest and more hopeful, I gained enough faith that I became will to turn my will and my life over to the care of God, as He exists in my image. Then, I had to have enough courage to carefully examine myself, my life, my thoughts and my actions. Then, once I had this courage, I confessed my inventory to God and another, and then, I was able to reclaim my integrity. Now, with honesty, hope, faith, courage, and integrity, I am ready for the step that seperates the men from the boys - willingness. I gain the willingness to have God remove all my defects of character which stand in the way of my usefulness to Him. This is the great leap for the month of June - A month dedicated to willingness!!