Staying Sober and Living in Recovery

Three ways that worked for meGetting sober was nothing I really had planned. Honestly, doing drugs and staying in addictionwasn’t either. My childhood was rocky at first, but then my grandparents adopted me and I had apretty good life. I didnt want for anything, my needs were met, and I had two great role modelsguiding my path. Through a series of events and what I now know to be anxiety, I picked up myfirst use and never looked back. My nursing career went down the drain, several felonies on myrecord, and no one to turn to in the midst of the darkness I had created. Getting sober wasn’thard. I was essentially forced through the Oklahoma Court System. After that, it was up to me tostay sober and here are three ways that I did that.1. Get in the middleSomething my AA sponsor told me early on was to get in the middle of the crowd. By doing thatI created a barrier to the outside world of influences and created a space of like minded peoplethat were achieving the same goals. I followed the ones that had gone before me and allowedthem to lay my new path in front of me to achieve long term sobriety.2. Work a thorough and honest programFor a long time I had walked around telling a lot of lies. To others and to myself. To the point thatsome of it, I honestly didn’t know what was true and what isn't anymore. As I embarked on myprocess addiction of Codependency, part of the work was to get your story straight. I hadalready diminished a bunch of the lies in my Alcoholics Anonymous program, but what I realizedwas there were still a lot of lies I was still telling myself that were hindering me from theauthentic self love that I needed. I got my story straight at a gut wrenching honest level.3. I said yes to Jesus and let His will take controlI knew who God was. My grandma was a secretary in the church. I was at every function andI grew up running the halls of church. Through my addiction I let the ruler of this world, Satan,take over. I believed his lies and trailed down a path of destruction. Early on in my sobriety I gotrebaptized. I said yes to Jesus from that point on and whatever His will for my life was.2 Corinthians 5:17 says “That anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The old life isgone; a new life has begun”These three things gave me the beautiful life I have today. I am a wife, a mother, a daughter anda granddaughter again. Jesus is my Healer and guide, and I have a community of like mindedpeople that support me in my recovery. I have hope today.