RHAPSODY OF RECOVERY
Twenty years ago I didn’t view things the way I do today. I viewed life, myself, and everyone else through a very narrow shaded pair of glasses. I was at the end of my road, disillusioned, confused and in terrible unending pain. Somehow, I had lost my way. I had been following a path as a young man and got sidetracked in self destruction that I called my right of passage, my reward for working hard, my gift to myself for some self-centered misguided belief that temporarily let me run away and hide.
From the beginning, in my late teens, I didn’t understand what I was getting into. I never knew that I had a compulsive addictive personality. So when drugs were introduced to me, I jumped in with both feet. Getting high was exactly what I was looking for. It made me feel things that I couldn’t feel on my own.
As I got older, I continued to expand my imported good feelings. Through my education, marriage, the starting of my business, and the birth of my two wonderful children, I continued my extracurricular activities. I never noticed that I had stopped evolving as a human being along the way. Eventually my alcohol and drug addiction completely took me over. I became less than human and lived in that state for over 10 years. I became an angry evil man.
Through the grace of God, I came into the program and was introduced to recovery. That was July 1, 1985. The program has changed my life. I have been touched by the gift of a sponsorship, the 12 steps, meetings, and a relationship with the God of my understanding. I became a student of the steps and over the years I changed. The miracle of change, self-honesty, and self-evolution is available to us all.
In the program I have found my way. Recovery has brought me self-acceptance and the joy of living. I have family and friends that love and respect me. My glasses and my view of the world have expanded. I understand and see the light. Life has been good to me. I am very comfortable with me. I am blessed. I live in the joy of my life and am experiencing the rhapsody of recovery. Today, I’m a most grateful recovering addict, thank you for listening.