It was hard to see how the small steps in early sobriety were going to impact my life. Like, how was volunteering to make coffee at Saturday morning meetings going to do anything besides force me to wake up earlier and talk to people I didn’t know? But now, I see it taught me how to follow through on commitments, get comfortable socializing sober, and give back to something that was saving my life.
The gap between putting down the alcohol and picking up the tools to function without it was the hardest period of my sobriety. It’s a time when many relapse. I needed to hear the principles and apply them in real-life situations in my life to see change. That’s the work. If I resisted, change came slowly.
With practice we can create automatic responses to specific emotions, just like creating the habit of brushing my teeth before bed. When I’m anxious, I take the action I’m nervous about. When I’m angry, I pause. I’ve sweated through the shaking, racing heart, and trembling voice enough times to know my emotions aren’t going to kill me. I see an emotion as a hill I get to climb. There’s no shortcut. The more I practice I’m carving a path over the hill. I’m rewiring my brain, one choice at a time.
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