🍴Food for Thought: Until You Want To

People sometimes ask, “How long do I have to go to meetings?”

My half-joking answer is usually, “Until you want to go.”

At first, a lot of recovery practices can feel like requirements: meetings, phone calls, honesty, gratitude, prayer, accountability, and connection. We may do them because we are scared, pressured, running low on options, or just trying not to make things worse.

There is nothing wrong with that. As Bill W., AA’s co-founder, essentially noted, we all arrive through circumstance, not virtue.

Over time, though, something important, and even wonderful, can happen. The same things that once felt like chores can begin to feel like support.

A meeting is no longer just a place to report that we did not gamble. A phone call or text is not just an emergency brake. Gratitude becomes less of an assignment and more of a way to notice what is good, even awesome! Connection goes beyond an accountability check and starts becoming part of the life we truly want.

A friend of mine, Mel, often says, “We get to do this.”

I love that phrase because it changes the whole posture. It takes recovery out of the category of punishment, homework, or lifelong restriction, and moves it closer to gratitude.

Not every meeting feels inspiring, of course, nor does every practice feel meaningful every day. But as more of our days become better days, which they will, we may start to understand what Mel means.

We get to do this!

Ready for a 30-minute no-pressure call to gain clarity & discuss what kind of support might be most helpful for you? We’re here for you.