bapu
Congratulations Jon.
I'm only 43.16666666....% the man you are.
I thought about this and I guess you are probably just foolin' but...
You have to remember that I over-came/gained a release from, a physical addiction to substances which in many ways I consider is probably an simpler thing to accomplish as many of the issues turn around simply by not using those substances anymore. Yes, there are complications besides that will likely take a few lifetime's to put back right.
When people address a behaviour that doesn't involve substances per se I find is even more miraculous. One of prime reasons I got releif from booze because I didn't kill the emotions involved in the life I was leading anymore, basically it got bad enough, otherwise I'd likely still be at it. When those natural guiding emotions have been defeated for so long without the aid of a substance I'm amazed that people are ever able to come back from that to any lasting degree, truly. There may be a common solution to these various problems but the actual issues being treated are very distinct and different. Food addicts for example still need to eat so they have to moderate, they can't abstain for obvious reasons. Heaven knows how that works.
If I could put my garbage out on a table and everyone else did the same, I'm sure I'd be relieved just to get my own exact stuff back. Percentages and degrees don't come into it.
I choose to celebrate the amount of time today merely because of the gratitude I have for the life I've been given back and anybody that has managed to embrace and develop the principles of a 12 step program in their life, or whatever other succesful path they may have chosen, then aside from the number of continuous days they are if they managed to stay away from their particular achilles heel today then we are all on a par. We're all
that camel that's passed through the eye of
that needle.
For anyone still suffering though, there IS a solution. For me it just happens that it's worked....so far. If you ever find me on a park bench today, remind me it was my choice because that above everything is what I've been given back. The choice.