Fun
Without Booze, etc.
Step 9 – Made direct amends to such people
wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
"But
how can I ever have any fun again?" whined the newcomer. This woman
happened to be talking about letting go of her drug addiction, but the
substance or behavior could have been any. I doubt she believed me when
I smiled and assured her I remembered when I had wondered the same
thing.
When we
come to the 12 Steps we are so caught in our addiction, be it
alcoholism, drugs, gambling, overeating, co-dependence or any of the
others, we simply can't imagine life with out the substance or behavior.
Even if we don't think it through, we intuitively recognize that a whole
bunch of our time was taken up practicing, and those hours and days
stretch out in front of us like an endless desert.
In the beginning...
The
first thing that fills those hours, of course, is the Program itself. In
most places there are at least daily meetings and the fellowship before
and after. The saying, ninety meetings in ninety days (or whatever it is
in your area) not only gives us something to do, but helps set the new
habit of not practicing our addiction.
Once
we've worked the Steps and settled into our recovery, however, we're apt
to discover we want to have some fun beyond or in addition to the
meetings. At first, this can seem difficult.
The
first thing to keep in mind is that there is very little going on that
requires you to practice your addiction. Ok, you probably won't want to
hang out in bars if you're an alcoholic, or go to casinos if your a
gambler, but most activities don't center on booze or gambling or
whatever addiction is yours.
Results of working the Steps
One of
the things we may overlook is that one of the results of working the
Steps and letting go of our addiction is that we become more of who we
truly are than ever before. That new 'us' needs to learn how to
have fun all over again. That usually means two things: remembering our
dreams and experimenting.
Most of
us had dreams of things we wanted to do before our addiction took over.
I'd always wanted to write, but it took getting sober to discover I
could. I also always wanted to work with clay, so I took some classes
and loved it. I also wanted to camp and backpack, and have done more
than a bit of both.
Experimenting
can lead to all sorts of interesting things, as well as discovering some
things you don't like. At one point I started to get into photography,
but hated waiting until I'd remembered to drop the film off and pick it
up before I knew if any picture had turned out. And all those shots I
hated. So I dropped it until, years later, I have a digital camera...
perfect for me.
So
follow your dreams, dare to try new things and before long your days
will be fuller than you ever expected.
Love, peace and
abundance,
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