Finding the Yellow Brick Road

Beloved member @prudence wrote this marvelously stirring and inspirational update in the Members Feed the other day and I thought it was rather brilliant and too good not to share more widely. She says it’s a message to people who are new, but I will take it as a message to myself as well. It’s very powerful….

@prudence: “To all of you new to this sobriety kick, PLEASE hang in there. Maybe think of this sober journey as walking along a little goat track. Precarious and narrow and vulnerable in parts but soon to join up to a wider and more stable path, and then to become a comfortable and solid road on which to travel happily along your way.

Think of your lives in two ways. Carry on as you were. Or make the big effort. Think first of yourselves and what you want your life to be like. Think then of your true loved ones and hold that thought. You can be one way or the other for yourselves and those you love.

I think we’ve all wanted this sobriety thing for a long, long time but it’s simply easier to put it off to some future date when we think we might be ready. Take it from me, that lasted till I was 58 until I had the guts to do something about myself (shame).

All the stuff at the beginning is so tough, telling people, friend’s opinions, our own damaged belief in ourselves, the learning from the books we are suddenly reading, the temptations along our goat track, but there is a quiet little spark of determination in us, a courage that grows each sober day into a strong and healthy resolve not to turn back, not to give in, not to settle for second best.

Get in touch with that spirit within you, that strength, that hope and gentle knowledge that this is actually do-able and we are so worthy of what the effort brings to our lives. YES this is what we want, and by God we are going to have it.

At first I was so wobbly. I could hardly believe I was even going to try it. Then I could hardly believe that I had actually gone 3 whole days without a drink, then I made it to a week. Then I thought “this has got to be just some wee flash in the pan, I’ll be back on it by next week” “Ah well at least I gave my body a wee rest”, “Never mind”, “Love drinking anyway”, “Well I wasn’t That bad”, “I’m still a pretty together person” and on it goes. Well I just stuck with it, and I checked into LS every single day, heaps of times, and others helped me so much, and gave me the guts to carry on.

Unbelievably I haven’t even slipped up. I am afraid that if I do, then that’s it for me, my sobriety is history. The thing is that after some time, the feelings of doing something good in your life, the wellness you feel, the good skin, the lack of guilt, the higher productivity, they all make you start loving your sobriety and it becomes this precious thing that you wouldn’t want to sabotage. It has taken a long time for me to feel this strong, but my goat track has become my flipping Yellow Brick Road!!

I see my future shining, the road is clear, I’ll knock all obstacles out of my way. I am actually doing it, and loving it, and loving myself, and nature, and everyone and everything a whole lot more. Please believe in yourselves. Trust yourselves. I want you all to see the road wide and clear and solid in front of you, even though you might be stumbling along on your little goat tracks today. You’ve got this. You have.

Lots of love xoxo

@prudence