Hi, my name is Peggy and I'm an alcoholic.

I've been sober for a while, and I see things so much more clearly with the benefits of AA than I have ever seen before in my life. Of course, in addiction, nothing is clear. I am reminded of a character in the film "The Shawshank Redemption" who said you either have to get busy living or get busy dying. Alcoholism is like a prison because we can see no way out, and when I was drinking, I was busy dying with no choice in sight. Today I have a choice, and mine is to live in the solution and get busy living. How nice to be able to make that choice. The Steps and the Big Book teach me that where I am discontent there is usually some person, place, or thing which I find unacceptable to me. In acceptance, I find a new freedom never experienced before in living. In gratitude, I find a new personal value of things important to me and the knowledge of which things aren't important after all. In faith, I find a vivid force in a power much greater than myself. Where I am wrong I can admit it and let go. I no longer feel sorry for myself for the past, because the past only exists in the abstract--I have learned that the only real thing I have is today, and today I can stay sober.

Thanks for letting me share,
Peggy B.