I woke up this morning, had some coffee, ate breakfast and got ready to come to work. Just like most mornings, I had a moment of reflection and a smile played across my face. It’s my sober anniversary. It’s not like it was far from my mind, as I’d been thinking about it a lot over the last couple weeks. It just slipped my mind this morning…for a moment.
Twenty Years. Wow.
Weird, wonderful, or as I used to say a lot when I lived back east in the great state of Maine, ‘Wicked awesome!”
I’ve certainly grown in a positive direction over the past twenty years, but I can’t say that I’ve made all the amends, all the corrections, that I have patience all time, that I am smarter in all things, or even that I have my emotions is check all the time. But, you know what? It doesn’t matter. I am okay with that now. I am okay with not being perfect. I am okay with just being human being with faults, imperfections, and flaws.
What’s changed is how I address these character defects. I am more aware of when they rear their ugly head, when I need to apologize in a sincere way, and the biggest part is I now know that I bring something to the table in every situation I encounter. It doesn’t matter if the outcome is favorable, neutral or unfavorable. I am responsible for me, for my part.
What I’ve also learned is to put trust in others and when they come up short to not punish them or myself for that imperfection. I look to see how I can make it a better experience the next time. Does it suck when someone doesn’t fulfill the expectations I have for them, yes, but not as much as it used to.
That’s growth.
The main question I’ve been asked already to share today is ‘How’d you do it?” My answers seem simple. “One day at a time,” and “I show up for life now.”
Recovery Rob BIO
Recovery Rob is a 47-year-old man who has more than nineteen years of sobriety, whose drugs of choice at one time were alcohol and drugs, and he has worked in and around the field of addiction for more than 20 years. Having just recently launched his own website, www.askrecoveryrob.com, he hopes to reach out and continue to help others who work through their process of addiction and recovery. Recovery Rob is a professional writer who has published two novels and is currently working on his third. He has been writing and working as Pat Moore Foundation’s premiere blogger and content writer, which helps keeps Pat Moore Foundation’s addiction and recovery blog top-rated.