Blog

April 13, 2020

  I know I know, this is such an obvious cliche and at this time especially. This is day 28 since the “official” stay in place order which was given on March 15^th, with 17 or more days to go.  I say “or more” because we still don’t know if it will be extended and we – here in my house, may stay in place a while longer.   One day at time, we’ll see.  Never, have I appreciated the One day at a time method more than now, it helps keep me sane, to some degree. Lol

     Many of us (in recovery) have experienced times when we’ve said, “ugh, those stupid slogans are getting on my nerves”.  I don’t know about you guys, but when I was new, the people around me in the program would always pull out one of them cliches to hammer me with. Lol, or so it seemed.  One Day at a Time, Live and Let Live, Keep Coming Back, You’ve got to give it away to Keep it, Keep it Simple and Slow (KISS) and I don’t like the other one for that, keep it simple stupid, that one was not OK with me.  And the list goes on, you can add your own in the comments. 

     But one of the most irritating slogans for me was “This too Shall Pass”, especially when I wanted to complain about my current circumstances, weather it be money, kids, spouse, friends, sponsor, neighbors, mom, people in the meeting or just the weather!  Still, as irritating as all these slogans were to me then, they became my “go to” solutions for the moment’s of troubles and for today, “This too shall Pass” has never sounded sweeter!

     This is more proof that what once was an annoyance can later become our welcomed hope. Lets’ take a look at “This too shall pass” and break it down.  Right now, here today, “living in the moment” (there’s another one, lol) “This too” refers to the Covid19 virus, the Pandemic and our stay in place order. Which is at day 28, nearly a month now and a lot of us are getting squirrely. “This” also refers to our jobs lost, family being together 24/7 and having to go without essential needs.  

      I heard this weekend that mental health emergency calls were up over 800%! And people are flooding the medical system with mental issues, anxiety and depression.  We can all certainly understand why.  There are going to be a lot of us who want to reach for something to help us “sleep” through this nightmare, to numb us from the pain of it all.  As recovering people, we cannot afford to let our minds take us to that place, more than ever we all must be vigilant about our recovery, our program. 

     “This too”, this horrible, invisible monster sweeping across our land, “will Pass”.  Which of course means, it will move on!  As have many other virus’s and problems before this one, it will pass.   It will keep going.  I know they say that it will come back in the fall for flu season, and our hope is a vaccine.  Let’s keep praying for that. 

     When it has passed, at least to a large degree and the stay in place order is lifted, it seems like it might be May 1^st? We’ll see (one day at a time) whenever it is, then we will slowly come out of our holes, stick our heads up into the sunshine and sniff the fresh air.  Stick a foot out cautiously, blink our eyes and finally stand up straight, stretch out our limbs, take a deep breath and smile.   

   Yes folks, this will pass, and I pray when it does we can all look back over these quarantined days and say we kept our clean time and our sobriety intact, our sanity (for the most part, we will have moments or days that’s for sure) our families, friends and general wellbeing.  This is actually our chance to shine.  Our chance to move closer and closer to our Higher Power and the people we are staying in place with and to our recovery. Don’t miss this chance to work some steps and read some recovery literature. Who knows, it just may help you handle this crisis and give you tools for any crisis you might ever face in life until, it has passed.

Question of the Week: Is this cliché something you can use at this time?   Do you have any other sayings that help you through rough times?  Share them with us please.

Helpful scriptures and quotes:    Corinthians 4:17-18   3 John 1:2 1 John 2:17  Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.

Revelation 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”