[bluidkiti]

January 20

Quote of the Week

"We either hang together, or we hang alone."

As my drinking got worse, I became more and more of a loner. After a close call of getting pulled over while I had been drinking (I somehow managed not to get arrested), I decided to stop going out to clubs. It was just easier to stay home and drink and listen to music. I also stopped receiving invitations to parties, and at first, I didn’t notice, then I didn’t care. It had been a long time since I had been in a relationship, and since my family couldn’t keep up with the way I liked to drink, I stopped hanging out with them, too. At the end, it was just me, my booze, and my resentments.

When my best friend finally took me to a meeting, I hated it. First, there were a lot of people there and they all seemed so fake and much too happy. What was there to be happy about? I thought. You’re at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting! And then some people came up to me and gave me their phone numbers and told me to call them. That won’t be happening, I thought. Finally, after the meeting was over and I was sneaking out the back door, my friend told me we were going out to “fellowship” at a restaurant. That was the last straw! I told him, “Some other time,” and made my escape.

I stayed “out” another year, and when I finally crawled into the rooms, I was ready. Early on, I saw someone celebrate a six-year anniversary, and he said something I will never forget. He said, “Find someone you can tell the truth to; we don’t do this alone.” Thank God I took his advice. The moment I began to let the program in, the fellowship in, and a God of my own understanding into my life, I began to recover. By getting involved, I got out of me and got into “we.” And then I finally understood: We either hang together or we hang alone.