Sanity

The drunk and the dope fiend are insane.


The only logic to putting a poison

into ones body must be insanity.

Normal people smell alcohol

and they throw up, up-chuck, barf, puke

or whatever you want to call regurgitation,

and they will refuse to allow

the liquid to pass through, over or around their lips.

The alcoholic holds their nose, acquires a taste, and drinks as much as

they can consume and then they throw up, blaming it on the peanuts, the

pretzels, an empty stomach or a thousand other excuses, but never the drink.

Then the alcoholic takes a shower, brushes the teeth, takes a nap

and starts the insanity all over again, because it was fun, it made me feel like

I belonged, I danced better, I sang better, I felt no pain...

until the the next morning when the guilt and shame have returned

because I can't remember what, who, where, or why I did what I did.

Einstein, "Insanity is repeating old behaviors, expecting different results."

Recovery is being restored to normal thinking, which hopefully is sane.

Step one, don't drink, don't drug.

Step two, learn about the disease of alcoholism, addiction, the only

disease that tells you that you are not sick, the disease that wants you to

isolate, be alone, push away anyone who loves you and to kill yourself.

Step three, find a friend who has been there and done that, a person

who has recovered, a person who knows how insane your thinking is,

a person who will love you until you can learn to love yourself.

Step four, find a Higher Power; until your ego learns that you are not God,

that you are not invincible, that you are not terminally unique,

that you are not bullet proof, that your stuffed feelings are not fragile,

or you will become nothing but a dry drunk whose misery and suffering

will take you back to the drink or drug.

Step five, change something, change anything, change everything,

as suggested, people, places and things and most importantly,

change your attitude.

Steps six, seven, eight and nine, clean house and repair the wreckage of the past.

To make amends is not just to say you are sorry, it means to change,

to become the person God wants you to be, to be responsible and sane.

Steps ten and eleven, seek to maintain a conscious contact with a Higher Power

and learn to live one day at a time, no regrets for yesterdays history,

no worry for tomorrows mystery, maintaining a spiritual condition

that will keep you sane.

Step twelve, work with another drunk, carry the message of change,

and know that insanity is always waiting in the wings, doing push-ups

knowing that those who do not keep moving forward can have their

stinking thinking, suffering and misery returned to them in an instant.

Learn to have an attitude of gratitude, know that your Higher Power

needs you to carry the recovery message to the still sick and suffering,

alive, not as a statistic.

God will give you the chance, the choice is yours.

When you want to stay sober more than you want to drink,

you will have been restored to normal thinking.

When others want what you have, serenity, peace of mind, happy,

joyous and free from guilt and shame, a life beyond our wildest dreams,

you will have been restored to sanity.

 "Sanity is a madness put to good use."  ~ George Santayana

Happiness is helping someone help themselves.

Michael_e