Growing Pains: Sober Girls Edition :)

Sharing the Magic

Hello my friends!

Welcome to another week of Growing Pains: Sober Girls Edition :)

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If you’d like to read this on the website or you can listen, too: Sober Girls - Sharing the Magic

I tried you guys, but I couldn't think of something strange to intro with this week. Perhaps because I am under my fluffy comforter with the Yankee’s on and for the first time in a while, I’m feeling very peaceful. Sorry to disappoint anyone who was looking for another sleestak mention or ducks….

I was just at a meeting at the 79th Street Workshop and looking at the octagon shaped blue signs they have up on the wall behind where the speaker sits. These signs have the OG AA slogans - Keep it Simple, Easy Does it, One Day at a Time, etc.. I remember sitting at my first meeting (also at the 79th St. Workshop for those of you that don't know) and looking at those same signs and thinking to myself “Whaaaattt are these and why is Think upside down…”

Quick side note - the think sign is upside down because our thinking can sometimes be just that…upside down.

Anyway, I scanned over them until my eyes fell on the pale blue sign with dark blue letters that said “We have a disease that keeps telling us we don’t have a disease.” To which I said to myself “Ohhhh fuck…” Any little bit of hesitation about whether or not I belonged in AA completely left me in that moment.

Now looking back on that memory I kinda laugh because those slogans are things I presently say to myself on a daily basis. When I start to get super overwhelmed by the day, what I have to do, when I have to do it, the emails and texts I need to get back to, and so on… I can now say to myself “Easy does it Jane.” I have an entire arsenal of slogans as well as little antidotes I’ve heard from other people at meetings that keep me from a) loosing my mind and b) drinking

Those antidotes I hear that keep me sane, I write them down by the way and keep them with me so I can look at them when I need them, no matter where I am. Some of my favorites are:

“Everything will be okay as long as I don't try to define what okay is.”

“Worrying about the sky falling is more bothersome than if the sky actually fell.”

“Don’t tell God how big your problems are, tell your problems how big God is.”

“Write your day down in pencil because God may have other plans”

“It’s okay if we look back as long as we don’t stare.”

These pieces of advice I’ve gathered (and am continuing to gather) from other people make such a difference to me. I also heard someone say “Sometimes you hear things in the room and you suddenly realize that's how you feel but just couldn't describe it before.” And that my friends, is exactly how I feel.

Each time I hear someone say something that really hits, I feel like it's just another piece of the puzzle that I need to figure out myself. To figure out what I’m feeling or figure out what’s so locked away in my brain that suddenly get’s unlocked by another person just sharing what they’ve learned.

It really is magic to me. which is why it's so important for me to share what I’ve heard with other people too. Because they've made me feel less alone, less crazy and so relieved to hear someone thinks the same way I do.

The importance of continuing share is also why I post these things on our Thanks For Letting Me Share Instagram (@thanksflms).

I also post my gratitude list for the day, and every once and a while I like to share a few things I’ve found that makes me smile and feel inspired. There’s also a few of my favorite prayers on there and some fun videos…should you be interested in checking it out ;)

Overall, it's these slogans and these lines from other people that really do help me stay sober daily. And also why it's so important for me to remember that its identification over comparisons. Because someone with such a different story than mine, could say the most powerful thing that sticks with me forever.

So with that, I hope some of the lines above resonate with some of you too, that you’ll pass them along and one day at a time, we’ll all stay sober together :)

With so much love,

Jane