My Sobriety Day Count

    I've very proud of how long I've been sober.  I used to write the numbers on my hand so that I could remember exactly AND to encourage me to stay sober JUST FOR AT LEAST TODAY.  My substance use led to a horrific accident that left me in the hospital for 6 months.  The 'blessing in disguise' was that it allowed me to be pulled away from the drug use for a long time.

    Now, has my sobriety been strong enough for long enough that it will last FOREVER now?  Not in the least.  It's a DAILY effort to ensure that I'm sober TODAY.  Now, honestly it gets easier and easier, but I KNOW that the demon can come back.  I recently saw somebody who had had a problem with crack cocaine (which was where my addiction led me) and after TEN YEARS of sobriety he had had a relapse.

TEN YEARS?  WHAT?  Isn't that long enough to be clean FOREVER?

               Not in the least.  

   See, we all have some sort of demon that can raise it's stinking head when we least expect it.  Some people have trouble with dishonesty with money at work, some people have a problem with pornography, and some people have a problem with drugs -- like is my story.  Whatever demon we put to rest can rear it's head again if we're not careful.

   So, I want to encourage you to discuss your demon with someone else.  You ladies, tell your best lady friend about the hard thing that you've got going -- like you considering unfaithfulness to your mate.  Gentlemen, tell you buddy about having spent time last night looking at the pornographic images when your wife wasn't home.  TALK ABOUT THE DEMON that is in your life.  Maybe it's wasting time on TV.  Maybe it's 'creative expense reporting' to lead to dishonesty.  TELL A PERSON about what's going on in your life -- that's what we're here for.  We're here to help other people.

  So, I count the number of days that I've been sober; I've very public about it.  Today I've been sober for 4 years, 7 months, and 20 days.  I know that it's helping me tremendously to be HONEST about what's going on.  I believe that's what God wants us to do.  WE NEED EACH OTHER.

   Thank you so much for reading this!  --- Curtis C.  www.curtischilders.com