Hi folks! Joannie here, an alcoholic for sure.

I was very honest when drinking ... about you, and how you should live and treat me. However, when I got sober, I found that wasn't what was meant. I had to look in the mirror and realize that I was blaming everyone and everything else for my problems. And I didn't like that one bit. Because through the Steps of this program, I learned if I was upset with someone or something, it usually meant something was going on with me ... can you imagine that? Someone was acting out and it was my fault? Not theirs? But once I put it on paper in my Fourth Step, and looked at my part in every resentment, there I was right in the middle of it with my self-righteousness. The Fourth and Fifth Steps were so freeing, I can't begin to imagine how I lived like that, and probably no wonder I drank. My mind was not connected to reality. Not that every resentment or bad deal was my fault, but I usually had a part in it. I was giving others power over me. Today, life is so much simpler. As I look at all the defects I still hang on to, I am aware of them today, own them, and continually work on them. And best of all, I don't have to drink over them. I love this program of Alcoholics Anonymous. It made an honest woman out of me .. finally! I no longer lie my way out of situations when truth serves just as well, and I don't have the guilt!

Thank you for letting me share.