No Supportive Family? Build One Out of Friends

I haven't blogged for a while because I have been camping. This past week was our annual family getaway. This year we camped by Port Townsend along Lake Erie in Ohio. Each year, my family and inlaws, who were friends long before we joined them with our marriage, get together to camp someplace.

To paraphrase a cliche, you can't choose your family but you can choose your inlaws. I scored on both counts! I couldn't ask for better. None suffer with drinking problems.

So what went wrong with me?

Worrying about the past, which can't be altered, gets in the way of living for the moment. This moment only! What went wrong with me doesn't matter nearly so much as the fact I had nothing to drink today. Tomorrow can worry about tomorrow. This is the day and this is the moment in which I live.

If you aren't as lucky as I to have a supportive family, you need to depend on your sponsor, AA friends, workmates, church cominglers, maybe a sober neighbor or two.... Make them your family. But whatever you do, don't blame your addiction on growing up in a dysfunctional family. I'm sorry for that. But move on.

Embrace the serenity prayer. Don't blame Mom or Dad or that funny uncle who messed you up. It's a new day. How are you going to live in today only so that tomorrow can be even better?