My Greatest Lesson in Sobriety

My greatest lesson in sobriety… It’s difficult to boil it down to 1 thing. When I came into the rooms nearly 9 months ago I was a very different person to the one writing this post. I think over the last 9 months I could summarise it into 3 lessons.

1. Trust the program: I was full of scepticism when I walked through the (virtual) doors of Boomerang 9 months ago. I didn’t think it was where I belonged or what I needed. 9 months later I’m still here, still sober (no relapses!) and the program has changed my life for the better.

2. Listen before speaking: Learning to listen more and speak less is a big lesson for many but for this alcoholic it has taken a long time to learn. For years I thought I knew best and knew it all and had the most important opinions that everyone needed to hear, especially after a few drinks. After completely losing my self-confidence and being somewhat broken when I came into AA I have learnt so much by just listening to others. My universe gave me 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason.

Now, for me, the road ahead looks full of opportunities, not full of fear and misery. A life in sobriety is still a bit scary, but that’s just because I haven’t lived this life before. If I have my universe and my higher power by my side, I need to trust that it’ll be ok.

3. Lose all expectations: This was hard for me to hear when I first heard it. I had extremely high expectations of everyone, but more than that I thought the world owed me everything and was resentful that I didn’t have what I

thought I deserved. Over the last few months I have been working really hard at having my universe remove my character defects, and expectations is one that has taken A LOT of work, and we are not there yet!