Keep doing the things that got it good, not the things that got good.
I was in a meeting the other day when a guy took a newcomer chip for seven days sober. Before he sat down, he shared that he had twelve years but had gone out. He said it took almost five years to get seven days again, and that during those five years he went through hell. He lost his house again, his family and his career, and he almost lost his life. He said he knew about meetings, about the program, about the disease, but he just couldnt muster the willingness to get sober again.
After the meeting, I asked him what happened and he related a familiar story. At twelve years sober, life was great. He owned a big house and had all the toys. He was near the top of his career and slowly the trappings of success became more important. Suddenly, golfing with his buddies took the place of his Sunday meeting, and after a while he stopped calling his sponsor and reduced his meetings to once or twice a month then he stopped going all together. At a barbeque someone handed him a cold beer and he was off.
As I left the meeting, I was chilled with fear. My life was going pretty good, too, and there were times when I stayed home to watch football on my massive LCD TV instead of going to my Sunday meeting. I didnt remember the last time I had spoken to my sponsor or if I even had one anymore. And thats when I heard todays quote: Keep doing the things that got it good, not the things that got good. I vowed right then to reconnect and recommit to my recovery. After all, I remembered, you dont have to go out to start over
