Serenity = Reality = Inner peace and strength. --Anonymous
Most of us chased an elusive thing called serenity for years. We thought our journeys outside reality brought us peace and serenity. When we returned to reality we found harshness and pain that caused us to run back to using. So it went, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. Run, escape, pain; run, escape, pain.
Then something happened. Our addiction wouldn't let us escape anymore. We no longer found what we were seeking. We tried using more heavily. Finally, all that was left of our lives was the pain.
The Fellowship shows us that reality is not a problem. Trying to escape reality is a problem. When we continue to turn our wills and lives over to a Higher Power, the serenity that results creates a reality of inner peace and strength.
I trust and believe that the changes I am going through in my recovery are necessary and good for me.
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'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
Pappy,
And that describes me in a nutshell--in fact, I was like a "nut" by the time I started AA again. I was trying to use alcohol to escape reality and although I was able to forget everything when I was drinking, the problems I was running from were always there to face me when I woke up the next day, and sometimes a few more were added to the heap which were caused by my drinking the day before.
I love being a "recovering alcoholic" instead of a "raging alcoholic" and I have found the serenity and peace which I have longed for which have given me strength needed for facing my problems each day sober instead of drunk (which was impossible for me to do).
Thanks for sharing! Great to read this post first thing in the a.m. to get my day started.