Year of Recovery in Retrospect

Bring­ing in a new year always causes me to reflect on the past year, it’s pos­i­tive and neg­a­tive aspects, and take a look at where I am today in look­ing toward the com­ing year.

Early in my recov­ery my Spon­sor guided me in this direc­tion of the turn of the cal­en­dar, in order to use this time of year for my own growth. Each year I’ve done the same, emo­tion­ally stir­ring, thought-process, and each year I’m thankful.

Mak­ing it through another year clean and sober, to me, is purely a gift of God for which I’m extremely thank­ful, and I mar­vel at the fact that some­one like me could pos­si­bly stay clean and sober for a whole year — not to men­tion the number.

Today I reflect — and would love to hear of your own reflection.

2009 was not an easy year for me, as many emo­tional strug­gles arose this year, but each came and went with­out pick­ing up — “But by the Grace of God!”  Today is ‘New Years Day’ — a day of gen­e­sis - a day of new begin­nings. An appro­pri­ate day to ‘begin’ post­ing in ~CLEAN-n-SyBER~. I’ve spent a great deal of time and effort this year try­ing to put together a ‘Com­mu­nity web­site’, with lit­tle suc­cess and a great deal of fail­ures along the way. I’ve had much emo­tional tur­moil this year, and it seems to be a turn­ing point in my life. It’s almost as though my ‘old life’ — not the life of addic­tions, but the life I had since I’ve been in recov­ery — draws to an end, and I’ve been in a “wilder­ness” period between ‘old’ and ‘new’ . I hope for a bet­ter year in 2010, as finan­cial strug­gles have been enor­mous this past year, socially it’s been a ‘dry spell’ for me, and spir­i­tu­ally — well, God and I have had some rough times and some good times, but not the most spir­i­tual year thus far, though that too seems to be changing.

Recov­ery — I once heard it said — is like a “Roller Coaster Ride” — so you bet­ter put on your seat­belt and hold on, because you’re in for the ride of your life!

I’ve found this to be oh-so-true! — What about you?

How was your 2009 — and what do you fore­see, hope for and/or even ‘plan’ for in 2010?
(I use the word ‘plan’ with some humor, for I often say, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.”)