Despite my fluctuating moods, it’s incredible that my undertaking has come to an end after pledging to write a response to the Daily Reflection for an entire year. I thank my higher power and for all the followers, the un-subscribers, the ones that took time to read and respond. If I helped anyone, that’s great, even if that one was me, because I stayed sober.

I love the idea of experiencing by example. My success is because I watch others accomplish extraordinary tasks, like getting sober and staying sober through a COVID-19 pandemic. I observe how people have lost loved ones yet are remaining sober. People have lost children, spouses, parents, and some have experienced divorce and health challenges. Not to discount graduations via online learning, job losses, homelessness, and so many others. It’s all because of their fortitude that I continue to survey their actions or the lack thereof. As a result, I have gained strength that I, too, can keep on a path of abstinence. No matter what the experience, I do not have to abuse myself with alcohol and drugs.

The reading speaks about faith, reliance, and prideful ego all in one sentence, reminding me that the former two, I can depend on, and the latter is what I have to deflate to gain a steady strength. For me, this is a daily practice. I continue to abjure while adjusting and arranging the best solution for my program. I can surrender my stubbornness and forfend my profound journey, constantly creating individuality so precious that I want to preserve it all.

The program’s triangle is service, unity, recovery, and this accomplishment derives from working the program’s triangle of the Steps, Traditions, and Concepts. My triangle development is emotional, physical, and mental sobriety. What that means is that I have to rid myself of those things that create havoc and cause me to question my worth. Similarly, being physically fit with a regime can provide a stream of conscientiousness to do the next right thing. In other words, Lynda’s will must go and allow the choice of a power that helps me to have integrity. When my thinking struggles, it’s okay to ask for help from an outside source like a therapist.

The way to gain any of these for me is to continue the practice of the program’s principles of being honest, open-minded, and willing to have hope that I too can heal one-day-at-a-time with the help of others showing how they accomplish recovery. In my opinion, that’s the spirit of the universe working through others for me to see.

I conclude with gratitude and hope that life is worth an act of kindness, especially if things seem doomed. For this reason, I cannot quit because the miracles continue to happen—and that comes from something greater than me, and for that, I am genuinely thankful.

Peace and love. Feel free to share. The reading is attached.

Author, Lynda M.