"I've Tried Nothing And I'm All Out Of Ideas"

     Early on I was told this was the battle cry of the loser: "I've tried nothing and I'm all out of ideas." There are other ways of saying it.

     "Meeting just aren't for me."

     "I tried the program for a week and it didn't keep me clean."

     "I didn't see anyone I could trust enough to be my sponsor."

     "My problem is alcohol, so using pot is okay."

     "My problem is drugs, so using alcohol is okay."

     "I already know what's in the literature so I know it doesn't work."

     In an earlier post I quoted something that I had been told many times by my sponsor and heard shared at meetings: "If you're not going anywhere, any path will get you there." The using addict who wants to get in recovery needs to change; needs to go somewhere else with location, with actions, with attitude, with life.  Change requires action. Effective action requires answers. To get answers one must go to where they are being offered. To hear and absorb answers one must have honesty, open mindedness, and willingness. For the answers to work, they must be used. To use the answers leading to recovery takes action.

     Today I do the next right thing for my recovery. When in doubt what that is, I talk to my sponsor, share at a meeting, read the program literature. When I know the next right thing, I do it.

     Action is a vital part of program recovery. It's harder for the disease to hit a moving target.