Wisdom Of The Rooms - 2021

[bluidkiti]

June 21

Quote of the Week

"I cannot think myself into good living, but I can live myself into good thinking."

I like to make lists of things I want to and should do. Toward the end of my drinking, in late September, I was drinking way too much, so I made a list of the five times left that year I would drink. These were Halloween, Thanksgiving, my birthday, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. My thinking was that I would remain sober in between. I made this list in a bar, and I felt so good about it that I ordered another pitcher of beer for myself. The next day, a Monday, I was drinking by noon. But that day wasn’t on the list!

When I got sober, I had a lot of plans and I made many more lists. I made a “join a gym and get healthy” list. I made lists on getting a job, getting a girlfriend, and many others. While I was thinking how good my life would be once I did these things, what was missing was taking any action. Thankfully, working the Steps with my sponsor taught me a whole new way to live my life. What I learned was that regardless of what I think or feel, taking action first would always lead me to feeling and thinking better. I found that A.A. was a program of action, not thinking.

This lesson has been crucial not only to my recovery but my happiness in life in general. I have learned that actions always proceed feelings and thinking, not the other way around. It’s like the gym. I rarely feel like putting in the action and going, but once I’m done with my workout, my thinking has completely changed, and I’m glad I did. It is the same with recovery. While I usually don’t feel like working a Step or helping out at a meeting or extending myself to help another, once I take the action, my thinking and life improve.