Most mornings I start the day with 50 or so friends at a Knights of Columbus hall and the first words out of my mouth are usually, “Hi, I’m an alcoholic and my name is Jill.”

I’ve been in (and out of) recovery since April of 1991.  At the moment I am working on a year and a half’s consecutive sobriety.  I sincerely believe that the only way I will stay sober for any amount of time, is to continue to attend meetings and remain diligent in my daily routine which consists of saying Thank You to God for the upcoming day, asking for help to keep me at my best and not in any way hurtful or harmful.  I go to a meeting.  I talk with my sponsor and with the women I sponsor.  But the most important part of this whole regime is that I don’t pick up a drink.  Lastly, before I go to bed I thank God for the day of sobriety and I ask Him to reveal to me if I have hurt anyone’s feelings that day or if I’ve done something I must apologize for or do over. 

A friend asked me the other day if I still think about drinking and I think he was surprised by my answer; yes, almost every day.  I’m realistic about one thing and that is that I am an alcoholic and when the natural thought of a drink comes into my mind, I simply remind myself that nothing good happens when I drink.  How do I know this for sure?  I’m in meetings everyday and I’ve surrounded myself with other recovering alcoholics.

The way I look at it, recovery is a verb, it’s an action word.  If you are in recovery and you are not taking the steps required to stay sober, there is a good chance that one day the idea to drink will enter your mind and because you’re not engulfed in meetings, etc. the idea may start to sound like a good idea. 

Be well.