When we are new in sobriety, there are times we believe that everything henceforth will be nothing but smooth sailing. Now that the bottle’s been put down, life will move forward and all will be well, with no other struggle as great again.
This is simply untrue. Life is just that, life. Before the drug met our veins or the bottle met our lips, life posed challenges. Challenges do not cease in sobriety. We learn, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly that we are and will be still challenged, often in ways with which we aren’t quite as familiar. Our both favorite & hated numbing agent is gone, leaving us bare to the world, and that includes being subjected to its struggles and embracing its joys.
Part of what working a program of Recovery includes is learning how to live with and survive in the struggles that occur in life. We are given the opportunity to be brought to a place where calamity can meet serenity. Where we can survive the pain and embrace the joy and be toppled over by neither.
One of the many gifts of sobriety is being able to feel, truly feel and live in those feelings without being devoured by them. We are given the opportunity to not walk as zombies through life but to have experiences which enrich our lives and allow us to bring those experiences to the people around us, showing them that they too, as time moves on, will be able to share exactly as you have. Our gift is being able to be, have feelings and pass on our legacy of sobriety. It’s not always easy; it is, however, always worth it.