ANOTHER DAY
Saturday, June 5, 2021
One day.
Then another.
One day at a time.
That’s both mantra and survival essential for many alcoholics and addicts – gauging their focus on staying clean and sober and galvanizing their commitment.
A daily ritual for healthy survival, actualizing their commitment to never ever giving up, never ever relenting, never ever letting a day pass, this is built on that kind of foundation – the one-brick at a time kind, one day at a time.
Writers do it too when they write every day, and I’m one of those. And I’m an alcoholic too, so every time I write a column, and every day I publish my column, it’s just one day at a time.
It inspires, it focuses, and it’s profoundly scary.
There’s no day off from one day at a time. There is no relenting for a while because what has been hard-won would be so easily lost, devalued, and starting-over would be heart-thumping fear personified.
Whether we are eating an elephant one bite at a time or building a skyscraper, there are no shortcuts to anything significant or worthwhile – about anything.
Today is #6,800, consecutive days of musing columns.
If I took a day off, I’d be back to zero.
The same is true of 34 years of sobriety. If I took a drink, I’d be back to zero.
Some things deserve to be stopped, paused – or ended ultimately.
Some don’t matter, but for ones that do, we should be clear on what matters to our life, to our life’s work, and to our life’s reputation. So then, when we are done or gone, what is left behind is not dust; it is who we were, how we lived, what we stood for, all the while being unequivocal about what we would not stand for.
See you tomorrow for #6,801