I have a stark reminder of time by listening to the battery-operated clock on my wall. It was the last treasure that I kept when my last parent died. When in solitude, the tick, tick, tick, tick, reminds me of him, remembering that I was sitting in the chair in his room while he was preparing to transition.

The ticking clock is a reminder that time waits for no one. I want to utilize my time wisely. In other words, it does me no good to wander in the past wishing and thinking that “what if” only I would have done this or that. No. All I have is today.

So when I get in a place of morbidly wondering about the future, I revisit the phrases that have enlightened and strengthened me in so many ways. Here are a few heard over the years:

  • I am here for a purpose
  • My serenity depends upon my belief system
  • Live to spread love
  • Growth is intentional
  • Suffering is optional, but the pain is not
  • Life is inevitable
  • Fear is the only enemy I will ever face—the only thing I have to fear is fear itself
  • Alcohol is undefeated
  • My best math is to calculate the future cost of current decisions
  • Anger is a mask that fear wears
  • The good that I am hoping for is already mine
  • There is nothing so wrong a drink won’t make worse
  • Never forget to check my motives
  • Preventive medicine is attending recovery meetings regularly
  • Move a muscle, change a thought
  • It’s lonely at the top, and if I make it there, I sure hope my feet are on the bottom
  • Grow or die = god
  • Hearing other people’s experiences = HOPE
  • Yet = you’re eligible too
  • Get off drugs = god
  • Great outdoors = god
  • Good orderly direction = god
  • Don’t stop at the salad bar because recovery offers an entire buffet
  • Intersectional addict
  • Necessity journaling
  • Sanity is living in harmony with reality
  • If I want to trip, get into reality
  • I have been living in a pandemic for a very long time, with alcoholics and drug addicts dying
  • Recovery is a class of higher learning
  • I get to choose my conception of a higher power
  • Time waits for no one—it’s always too soon to quit