Wisdom Of The Rooms - 2025

[bluidkiti]

January 6

Quote of the Week

"My mind is like a bad neighborhood—I don’t go in it alone."

One of the dangers of being alone for me is that I start thinking. Now, for a normal person, that may be okay, but for an alcoholic like me, that almost always means trouble. Colored by the disease of alcoholism, my mind seeks problems and reasons why nothing will work out. Even my so-called good ideas soon get me into trouble.

If I dwell in the bad neighborhood of my mind, I can also get depressed. I once heard that alcoholism wants me dead but will settle for drunk. If I get lost down its streets, soon I’m cut off from life and the light of my Higher Power, and I start believing alcoholism’s dark thoughts. Depressed and alone, my disease has seemingly won—until I reach out.

Today, I’ve learned to share my thoughts with others and to let them into my thought process. I’m no longer comfortable going into the neighborhood of my mind alone and find over and over that things always work out best when I have company. Today, when I’m feeling anxious or depressed, I ask myself if I’m in the dark neighborhood of my mind alone. And if so, I call you.

[bluidkiti]

January 13

Quote of the Week

"When I’m alone and by myself, I’m outnumbered."

I remember the first time I heard about the committee. Someone shared that when she went to sleep, the committee in her head got together and started going over all the things that were wrong and why her life was never going to work out. They gathered evidence, put a solid case together, and then reached their decision. When she woke up in the morning, they handed her their verdict: guilty and sentenced to a miserable life!

Boy, could I relate. I have my own committee of voices that constantly tell me things aren’t going to work out, that my past mistakes are insurmountable, and that no matter how hard I try, I will never be happy. When I’m alone, the committee is especially active, and after a few days of listening to their decrees, I’m overwhelmed and defeated.

In recovery, I’ve learned that being alone and listening to my own thinking almost always leads to trouble. I was taught early on that my thinking is distorted by the disease of alcoholism. My best hope for right action and happiness is to run my thoughts by my sponsor and others in the program. Once I let others in, the committee disappears, and I am restored to sanity. Today, I recognize the danger of being alone and outnumbered.

[bluidkiti]

January 20

Quote of the Week

"We either hang together, or we hang alone."

As my drinking got worse, I became more and more of a loner. After a close call of getting pulled over while I had been drinking (I somehow managed not to get arrested), I decided to stop going out to clubs. It was just easier to stay home and drink and listen to music. I also stopped receiving invitations to parties, and at first, I didn’t notice, then I didn’t care. It had been a long time since I had been in a relationship, and since my family couldn’t keep up with the way I liked to drink, I stopped hanging out with them, too. At the end, it was just me, my booze, and my resentments.

When my best friend finally took me to a meeting, I hated it. First, there were a lot of people there and they all seemed so fake and much too happy. What was there to be happy about? I thought. You’re at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting! And then some people came up to me and gave me their phone numbers and told me to call them. That won’t be happening, I thought. Finally, after the meeting was over and I was sneaking out the back door, my friend told me we were going out to “fellowship” at a restaurant. That was the last straw! I told him, “Some other time,” and made my escape.

I stayed “out” another year, and when I finally crawled into the rooms, I was ready. Early on, I saw someone celebrate a six-year anniversary, and he said something I will never forget. He said, “Find someone you can tell the truth to; we don’t do this alone.” Thank God I took his advice. The moment I began to let the program in, the fellowship in, and a God of my own understanding into my life, I began to recover. By getting involved, I got out of me and got into “we.” And then I finally understood: We either hang together or we hang alone.