Hi, I'm Carol, an alcoholic.

My sponsor told me that anything I think about constantly is my Higher Power for that day. Although I still have to work on not having regrets, I have some good tools from this program to do it ... the Steps, the literature, and working with others. At times in early sobriety, I thought, "If it hadn't been for those circumstances, those people, places, and things ... would I still be an alcoholic?" Well, of course, yes! Because I am one, and it's not the people, places or things that caused it. Actually, I am now grateful to all those people, places and things, because they brought me closer to my alcoholism so that I could be beaten down by it ... surrender ... and get into AA. I'm able to recycle my past and work through it with newcomers, to show them how to recycle their past so that they can help others in the future. Our literature says that we are not to have "morbid remorse." That is what regret is, and I don't want morbid remorse to be my god today. It sounds like a monster, and it is ... and can be. Think of those words and say them out loud slowly with a growl. I'm so grateful to my Higher Power, those before us, the program, and all of you.