Good morning all,
October brings a time of celebration for me and my recovery. First and most important to me is that Oct 2013 is the 50th month that I have been in recovery. Four years and 2 months ago, Aug 2009, I started on this road of recovery and began benefiting from the progress that I have made in being gambling free. On Aug 13, 2009 I reclaimed my life by walking away from suicidal thoughts and turning instead to seeking help. Today I am truly grateful that by turning to the help of others here and at Gamblers Anonymous I have been able to enjoy a renewed life.
The other reason to celebrate today is that it represents a milestone on being gambling free for a year. It is not my first one year celebration, I reached this same milestone in 2012 but finding myself unguarded and in the right (wrong) set of circumstances I gambled again. Thankfully this was only an interruption to my gambling free time and not an end to my recovery. Recovery is a program of progression not perfection, and sticking to it even if we falter at times is far better than to give up; “it works if we work it, it wont if we don’t.
So today I celebrate life and my 50 mounts of working recovery, and have also achieved meeting the requirements to reclaim my GA One Year Medallion by staying gambling free for a year and attending the required number of meetings during the year. Hopefully my receiving this recognition at my GA meeting and my telling about it here will help others to continued to work on their recovery and to keep moving forward in progressing as well — we should never give up no matter what disruptions we encounter or what problems or adversities that we face during our daily lives. Our not gambling will not prevent bad things from happening, but it will help us to react in more positive ways whenever they occur.
Thanks to all for helping me reach this point in my life, for me being able to be alive and share my story.
God’s speed. Stay strong. Keep alive.
Larry, aka paul315