Throughout our addiction excuses were something that came so naturally to us that we couldn’t even recognize them as excuses. Every chance we got we made an excuse to use. We used when good things happened. We used when bad things happened. We used when we were happy, sad, scared, excited, nervous, angry. We made excuses that someone else was the reason we used. We never took a look at ourselves and said that we used because we had a problem. Circumstances, people and places where the problem and that’s why we used, or so we thought.

After getting sober we saw that all those circumstances were not the reason we used. We realized we were and are powerless over alcohol and drugs. We are the problem, not the people around us, not the things happening in our life. The gift of sobriety allows us to see clearly that there are no excuses. Nobody or nothing forced us to use. By accepting that we are the ones who are responsible we can move forward in our lives and change for the better.

In case you didn’t know:
Chronic exposure to drugs of abuse disrupts the way critical brain structures interact to control and inhibit behaviors related to drug abuse. (http://www.nida.nih.gov/scienceofaddiction/)

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful that my old ideas are changing. Today I will be open to new ideas from my AA group. I pray that I may develop new ideas that work.