Ongoing Education
Today I am grateful for a cool morning and for the ongoing education I am receiving about alcoholism.
When I was an active alcoholic in my late teens and early twenties, I didn't realize that I had a disease. I thought I had weak will and lacked the strength I needed. I tried to stay sober on my own, succumbed to cravings and temptations, beat myself up for caving in, and repeated the pattern.
There's far more to it than that. Alcoholism is a disease with symptoms and progression. It can progress to fatal if untreated. It has physical as well as mental and emotional symptoms. I would add spiritual as well.
I can just read about the disease of alcoholism and that begins my understanding. But I get the best ongoing education from others when they share their stories and their recovery journey with me. Sometimes I read their words. Sometimes I see their faces as they speak. Sometimes they are the ones listening to me as I process my latest challenge and lesson as a recovering alcoholic.
I have a much better understanding of alcoholism, the daily disease, now than I ever did when I was actually drinking. But I will not graduate from this education. I will never have it all figured out. There was a time such an idea really bothered me. Now, it brings peace.
Recovery from alcoholism takes place a day at a time. Ongoing education. Ongoing effort. Blessings follow.
When I was an active alcoholic in my late teens and early twenties, I didn't realize that I had a disease. I thought I had weak will and lacked the strength I needed. I tried to stay sober on my own, succumbed to cravings and temptations, beat myself up for caving in, and repeated the pattern.
There's far more to it than that. Alcoholism is a disease with symptoms and progression. It can progress to fatal if untreated. It has physical as well as mental and emotional symptoms. I would add spiritual as well.
I can just read about the disease of alcoholism and that begins my understanding. But I get the best ongoing education from others when they share their stories and their recovery journey with me. Sometimes I read their words. Sometimes I see their faces as they speak. Sometimes they are the ones listening to me as I process my latest challenge and lesson as a recovering alcoholic.
I have a much better understanding of alcoholism, the daily disease, now than I ever did when I was actually drinking. But I will not graduate from this education. I will never have it all figured out. There was a time such an idea really bothered me. Now, it brings peace.
Recovery from alcoholism takes place a day at a time. Ongoing education. Ongoing effort. Blessings follow.
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