Acceptance Is A Responsibility - Memorial Day Weekend

May 27. I hope everyone had a good thursday, its almost friday & I am looking forward to a good holiday weekend. Memorial day was most often spent in a stupor & or in a struggle to hide the fact that I was in one. I know the meaning of the holiday & honor all who have sacrificed & worked so hard for freedom in the lives of others. I can't help but also celebrate this year the changing of the gaurd in my own life. No longer am I held a victim instead I can be responsible & carry the solution with me. I am fighting for my own freedom against an enemy that wants me dead, alcoholism & drug addiciton. With just over 10 months sober, I am forever grateful not to be in the position of despair & worthlessness to myself & others that I was a year ago.. and for years into the past. The key to all of this change, from prisoner to freedom fighter, an honorable veteran in the war against alcoholism in my life & others who seek a solution to the civil war within themselves... ACCEPTANCE.

Acceptance is so far different from admitting we are spiritually diseased, or alcoholic, or addicted. Admitting it is a mere statement of condition, it shows no intention nor ambition to change or grow well. It harbors denial, half-truths, and many other lethal enemies that greatly contribute to one's self destruction or losing the battle against themselves. Acceptance is entirely something different. It is the key to Sobriety & to living along Spiritual Lines. Accepting that you are something involves not only admitting it to others, but taking responsibility & owning the entire thing. It requires the responsibility of action to practice acceptance, the action being whatever must be done to correct one's spiritual disease. Acceptance over admittance is a huge factor in one's recovery. Many men & women say from the middle of a drug den party or the edge of a barstool "yeah so I'm an Alcoholic" or "I'm a drug addict what do you expect?". All things I have said myself in the past.

But today I say it different, with an entirely different tone & meaning. When I say that "I am a Drug Addict & Alcoholic" I am owning that, I have taken responsibility for it & accepted it. I accept that there is a solution & I must apply it in order to be free of it, in order to end the suffering for myself & others.. to prevent another casualty & create another Memorial Day. So when we think deeply about ourselves, when we stare deep within our spirit to what makes us, then examine what drives us right now in life.. can we say that we ACCEPT what we are? Or do we go on admitting our condition & continuing to live a prisoner of war, the war against our own worst enemies; a spiritually diseased self. We can do well to remember our veterans on Memorial Day, battles fought.. some won, some lost.. all in the name of Freedom! Freedom from self, that is the achievement & to do so we can employ the 12 Steps in our lives. We can after doing so, finally ADMIT that we ACCEPTED who we were & took the responsibility to change that person for reasons our higher power will yet reveal to us. Thanks for blogging in.. Have a great weekend! Good Night.. Good Morning.. <3 Jimmy