When Someone Doesn't "Get It"

November 15. Hey friends, I hope your week has started out as a Spiritual Success. My monday was up & down. I say that because I woke up feeling like I was getting sick, but as the evening goes by I am feeling a lot better. Maybe I've dodged a bullet or my body has done its job fighting off whatever threat was bringing me down. I still have so much work to be done in preparation for the opening day at my new shop, alot of which has to be done as each previous task is completed. So there is some time sensativity & planning that I have to do, which does not fit well as we know into an alcoholic's life as we do things often one thing, one task, one day at a time. By the evening I was starting to feel much better & got motivated. I lost one of my gold earrings in the shower which was a bummer, but the shower helped energize me some despite the setback. I got ready to head out to my usual Monday MARS Group & mom gave me a ride. When I got there the group was on the small side, but thanks to some behind schedule friends arriving late, a few minutes into it we had a good size group. There was no specific topic tonight, everyone kind of shared from the heart & what they needed to, wich a little helpful harassment from others we did our best to keep eachother in check. Afterwards I got dropped off at my homegroup for a few minutes & saw my sponsor & some other friends. By the night's end it was all worth while to get up & out of the house & I am in a better spiritual place because of it. I had mom & dad take me for food on the way home. So that was my day, but there is a good topic I got out of one of the conversations we had tonight.

Some people "get it" and some people "don't get it". To say it another way, some people have hit their bottom, have suffered enough, and are willing & ready to try something new. In order to try something new, we have to be able & ready to follow suggestions from others. But who's suggestions do we follow? Those who have been where we have been & overcome the alcoholic's helpless state of existance. Some people don't realize the fact that putting down the drink or drugs themselves is NOT ENOUGH. They just don't get it at that time, thinking that now that they are substance free that life will suddenly be great & full of happiness. Sometimes it's that long arm of the law threatening imprisonment or punishment that keeps some of us from going back to that life for a while. Other times its work, or family & friends, that put the alterior motives forward that if we don't stop they will do this or that. All of these situations very well may get a person to take a look at their problem. They might even stop using or drinking for a while because of these pressures. It's at that point that they either listen to others that have gotten sober, they either "get it" or they don't. Some of us, it flies right over our heads & we feel that putting down the chemicals is enough. In fact it is not, the drink or drugs are only a symptom of the disease that lives inside us. There is so much more wrong with our lives at the point we stop using & drinking, that if we do not dive deep inside ourselves through the help of a program & others, we may never discover the true nature of our problems. If we don't find these things out we do one of two things.. continue to suffer, feeling trapped inside a body filled with unhappiness & torment or we go back to drinking & drugs to numb the feeling of discomfort caused by being a "dry" drunk or drug addict.

If alcoholc & drugs is the only thing that we change in our lives, then very little has changed. Our involvement in other's lives won't change on that premise alone, our feelings & thoughts won't change either. It's the fact that we set these substances down that lifts just enough of the fog that our disease has created, that we stand any chance at all at "getting it". So how do we "get it"? I can't say that it's the same for everyone. Some people just have a spiritual awakening & it hits them they everything must change. Other's are inspired by others who have been in their shoes, and they begin to listen & change things little by little. And some still miss the whole point, and they suffer or return to that trapped lifestyle. Prison terms, asylums, and behind left alone & cold are not motivators. Many of us have gone in and out of these places & stages and it was not enough to change us. The reality is that we have to have that spiritual change of heart, it has to click within us, and we have to "get it" in order to finally "get sobriety". Being dry or abstenant is not the equivalent of being sober. Being sober is actively seeking change & growth spiritually in our lives for the right reasons. For the better of the world around us & our fellow man. We have to come to that realization that our entire lives were backwards, opposite the way our higher power had intended us to live. It's believing that possibly somebody else out there has gone through what we have, and that they have found a solution to change that life, will ultimately determine if & when we "get it". Through the help of others I believe I see more of the "big picture" than I have ever seen before or was capable of seeing in my active addiciton. I may never see the whole picture, but being able to see larger bits & pieces than ever before, thanks to sobriety, is what getting sober is all about. To live & experience life without the negative affects of drugs & alcohol on my life, so that I can do more for the people I love & the world around me. For once I can see past the selfish prison that my disease wants me to stay locked in. And thanks to the 12 Steps, my higher power, and others who work these life changing programs I finally "get it". I hope that if you are on the beam, on rocky ground, that one day you or the ones you love can "get it" too. Good Night. Good Morning,.. <3 Jimmy