Blog entry for:

keep too many addicts in the rooms.
in my experience that is quite true, for the most part, HOWEVER, as with most rules of thumb, there are exceptions,and here i sit, a glaring example that coerced meeting attendance CAN lead to long-term recovery. yes, the emphasis is on the word can in that last statement, as one definition of that word is: “has the ability to…”
for the most part, when something external gets an addict to meetings, unless that addict finally sees that this is an inside job and that the possibility may exists that they are powerless over addiction, they usually trip along on the merry way, after the wife returns, the job comes back, they kill their number or they get social services out of their lives. i know this as a fact, because once upon a time, that was my exact plan as well.
ah, the good old days, when drugs were not my problem, when everything wrong in my life was the fault of someone else, and when i knew that all it took was a minute and the magic potion of chemical bliss to leave all my cares and woes could be left in the dust, far behind me. those days when i certain i was anything but an addict, and all i had to do was play along and soon enough those who punished me for something i did not do, would leave me the fVck alone, to return to that life of ease. yes, ironically, by the time that hourglass dropped its last grain of sand, i had no desire left in me, to return to that way of living. not that i am some fVcking spiritual guru or a model of a recovering addict, i am just an addict, who once he tasted life beyond active addiction, decided that he might make a go of this way of life. and here i sit today!
anyhow, i have men who once called me their sponsor: out using, in detox, abstinent and in recovery. each and every one of them, chose the state they are in now, just as i choose to live a program of recovery. would i like all of them to be in the rooms, full participants in their lives and working a program of recovery? HELL YES!!!! do i have any power over them? HELL, NO!!!!
as the reading plainly states, it is up to me to attract them to recovery and even if i could drag them back to the rooms by their short hairs, it more than likely would do little good, as it is ultimately up to them. anyhow the rest of the world beckons me to join it, so for now, i am certainly glad that i can say WITHOUT ANY RESERVATIONS THAT I AM POWERLESS OVER ADDICTION AND MY LIFE IS UNMANAGEABLE.

∞ DT ∞