Today's Thought - August

[bluidkiti]

August 9

Sharing My Story Helps Me Stay Sober

About five years ago, long after discharge and well into recovery, I had the honor of speaking to a lot of people at a recovery reunion. Telling my story helps keep me sober. And it’s great to meet all these individuals who get it—they understand even though they didn’t go through the exact same things. They’ve got similar struggles. Similar stories.

You get together with guys from all over the country and you talk about all the stuff you’ve experienced—your parents, your military time, whatever—all the insanity that we inflicted on ourselves and others when we were trying to numb ourselves with alcohol. The dishonesty, the craziness. The way we used people.

You hear it all the time: stay connected, stay connected, stay connected. And I do. If I’m having a bad day, I know I can pick up the phone and call any one of them and they’ll be there for me. We’ll talk for fifteen or twenty minutes. It helps, and that bad day is not as bad as it first seemed.

Today I’ll connect with a friend in recovery to thank them for being there for me and to assure them I’m there for them too.

~Joe K., U.S. Coast Guard, 1988–1996

Today's reading is from the book Leave No One Behind: Daily meditations for Military Service Members and Veterans in Recovery*