Life on Life's Terms - Sober

Life is hard – no matter how you look at it. Most people find some way to cope with the trials life throws at them. Some people work extra hours. Some people party every weekend. Some people turn to books in a make-believe world. Some turn to a chemical induced world through drugs. Others turn to alcohol. Whatever the method chosen, people tend to create a fantasy world in order to escape life’s arrows.
We will look at those that turn to alcohol to escape reality. Alcohol, in and of itself, is not wrong. Some people can have a couple of drinks, relax and forget about their troubles for a few hours. The next day, they pick up their problems and solve them. Others, though, take the use of alcohol to the extreme. They cannot cope with the pressures without the haze of alcohol clouding their mind.
These people are the alcoholics. When one thinks of the alcoholic, most people think of the bum knocking around the street. That bum makes up only a small number of the alcoholics. Alcoholics can be doctors, lawyers, and school teachers. Alcoholism cuts across all socio-economic lines. Race, religion, fancy neighborhoods do not make anyone immune. It can hit anyone, anywhere, no matter where one lives.
But there is hope. Since June 1935, in Akron, Ohio, an ever increasing number of alcoholics meet around the world to share their experience, strength, and hope to help other alcoholics to cope with life on life’s terms.
Together, people in these groups work on twelve suggested steps that lead to recovery. There is no cure for alcoholism. It is not something one only lacks willpower to stop. Alcoholism is a disease, an allergy. But, through this program, one can develop a life of recovery.
Can one really cope with life without a crutch, without a fantasy world? Through the Twelve Steps, one develops a spiritual relationship with a Higher Power, whomever one chooses that to be. With this Higher Power, people in the program have found the means to cope with tragedies the average person doesn’t have to deal with.
Interviewing various people in the program about what works for them, the same answers come.
“Serenity Prayer.”
“One day at a time.”
“Let go and let God.”
“Do what is in front of you.”
“The program is really good in that it gives me an effective way to deal with life’s problems. It enables me to deal with all sorts of stuff that life has thrown at me.”
“Work the steps.”
“The program is a program of action. I make a decision, and then take appropriate action.”
A couple of the steps that were specifically mentioned are the ones dealing with admitting that God (or Higher Power) could restore us to sanity, and turning our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. Others mention the premise of being willing to let your Higher Power lead you in the right direction; knowing that we are not in control of our lives, but our Higher Power is.
One may ask if the people in the program have problems that are out of the norm. Some of the happenings in these people’s lives are: losing loved ones to drug and alcohol abuse; strokes in the early 30s; heart attacks; open heart surgery; broken necks; life in a wheelchair; family’s suicide attempts; cancer in children; loss of children due to different means; and mental illness. The people in the program are not exempt from problems. When someone enters the program, members give them a virtual toolbox of ways to deal with life’s surprises. No easy way out. Just doing things one step at a time. Once one enters the program, they are no longer alone to face life. They have a world-wide support team.
Do you graduate from the program? No. As mentioned earlier, there is no cure for alcoholism. Although it is hard in the beginning of recovery to learn the steps, it gets easier. There are some people who have been in the program for ten, fifteen years. Some have twenty-five to forty years. Some have fifty years. It is a lifetime recovery program. In the program, one has only a daily reprieve based on spiritual condition.
The 12 Step Program has been so successful in helping alcoholics to recover that others have adapted the program for use with drug addictions, gambling, overeating, and others. The Steps work.
If you or a loved one would like to learn how to deal with life on life’s terms – sober, there is help just a phone call away. Call the local number in your phone book under Alcoholics Anonymous or AA. The program requires no last names. It doesn’t cost anything. All the program offers is help, acceptance, and love. Call today to learn how to cope with life on life’s terms.