Consistency and Momentum
Keeping Sobriety on a Good Roll
June 28, 2010
Tonight, I’m appreciating consistency and momentum.
For me, consistency is keeping up my daily program regimen. It’s going to meetings, reading literature, and making the calls I’ve pledged to make. The calls to recovery friends keep me in check; they provide a sense of regularity, they allow me to express myself, and they give me an opportunity to learn from others. I don’t have to wait for a meeting to fellowship with others. I can reach out at any time. And I appreciate when others reach out as well.
Momentum is the pace I reach and try to keep when I’ve been good and strong in my program, when I’ve been consistent in my recovery actions and when I feel the benefits of that consistency. It’s sobriety on a roll. These two concepts are “fancy” ways of explaining how I stay sober.
I bring them up because their efficacy is important for me to share. Lately, I’ve been tested repeatedly by my family of origin. My parents are pushing back against the changes I’m making in my life; perhaps they feel threatened. But they don’t respond like normal, healthy people; they get vicious, verbally and psychologically. So, my consistency and momentum have helped me through these tougher times.
It’s like I’ve built up a foundation or a reserve by sticking close to my program and as a result, I am less wracked by difficult situations. It’s not that these stressors aren’t a challenge to my sobriety, but it’s easier for me to go back to the program work when I’ve been regularly putting it into practice. I try to just do a little more of it, make more calls, go to an extra meeting, meditate more, and set more boundaries when I find myself stressed or anxious or triggered as a result of the difficulties out there.
I guess this was all a different way to say, once again, it works if you work it.
