recovering alcoholics | One Mans Opinion

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All my life I was told not to “hang out” with the wrong type of people. I never really understood this until I was a bit older. The wrong type, the trouble makers, the so-called bad boys, those were the one’s that ended up in detention or suspension, which really was not the place I wanted to be, but somehow always ended up there. I was your quintessential bad boy, John Wayne wanna be that rebelled against any kind of authority. I lived a long time this way and all it did was cause me more misery and pain. A few years after high school I started running with some people even James Dean would turn his nose at.

When I sobered up my sponsor told me to “stick with the winners”, which was all fine and dandy, but I had one question;” Who the heck are the winners?” I had run with the tough crowd for so long, I couldn’t spot a winner if he was right in front of me! Late one night I pondered this novel bit of wisdom and after some deep soul-searching I came to this conclusion; The people I hung out with were always getting into fights and going to jail, so, if I don’t hang out with these type’s, I wont go to jail or get into fights either.

Now for most people this advice is simple, but for the alcoholic of the hopeless variety that I was, I complicated the heck out of everything. So sticking with the winners was especially true, because I wasn’t a winner and wasn’t associated with any. Since I was fresh out of water, I let God guide me to the real winners of life and my sponsor was a big part in that as well. He helped me to figure out who was health for my sobriety and who wasn’t and I still do this today. One of the biggest parts of sobriety is healthy, serene, long-term recovering alcoholics that have done this for a while.

We have to surround ourselves with positive, God-fearing people, if we want to have somewhat of a happy sobriety. These are the one’s that are going to meetings, working the steps, and have other qualities that you like, then you stick to them like glue on paper! I know I did when I started to find out who the winners were and who the losers were. After some time of hanging out with quality people, I , myself started to develop some good qualities and people were noticing.

Birds flock together and the same is with humans. Especially drunks, we tend to stick with the drunks, because that’s all we know how to do. We did unspeakable things and indecent acts just to show we were cool, all the while people were laughing at us calling us the fool. Today I’m influenced by a lot of wonderful people who I’m grateful to, they teach me right from wrong and show me how to live according to God’s plan and not my own. They teach me love and respect not disrespect and hate, and they encourage me in everything I do. These are the one’s I want to be around today, and my favorite part; No one is going to jail!

Thanks for reading!!! Be Blessed!!!!!!