My name is joanna, and I'm an alcoholic.

Complacency is always sitting on my shoulder along with old man John Barleycorn. Complacency tells me it's OK to skip a meeting today because I've just got too much else to do. Complacency tells me it's OK to have just a teeny little drinkie-poo cuz it's the Holidays. In other words, I sometimes think complacency is just another word for alcoholism. I've been complacent a number of times during my recovery, and have found myself spiraling down into that old familiar black hole of depression ... anger turned inward. But thanks to the abundant grace of God, somehow I've been able to stay away from that first drink. I really don't mean to spread my peacock feathers and boast, but I would like to share that last Saturday I celebrated 29 years of continuous sobriety in our beloved program, and I turned 77 years old at the same time. I'm here to tell you it works. I have no idea why or how. But it works. It's the feeling that this is the only place in the world where I belong ... really belong. You know me ... I know you too. We reach out to one another, and there's this beautiful feeling of sharing the language of the heart. I never want to lose that feeling. Yes, there are times when a drink sounds pretty good to me but when I take the time to think it through, I know where it will take me. I still have a terminal disease called alcoholism. It will never go away. It will kill me. But it's also the only terminal disease I know of which the patient can keep in remission by simply not picking up a drink. How simple is that? What a concept! Thanks for letting me share, and God bless us all.

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