Setbacks in Recovery

[Worm]

I write this almost a week after it happened. My job had a reduction,as most companies are, and in my area there were to be 13 positions with 15 people for those jobs. At least 2 people would be terminated with a package. We all had to interview again for these positions. I had held mine for the last 5 and a half years.
I was not worried about losing my job and frankly felt good about getting the newly created job that I had. It would be a combination of my job and another and would be a move up for me.

Long story short, I didn't get the job, I got a shift work job, no pay cut. The guy that talked me into applying for my job 6 years ago got the job I wanted, a good friend. He left the job going on to bigger and better things. He never told me he had put in for the job.

I took this week as vacation because I needed time away from work. Last Friday I climbed on the pity pot and had a real hard time getting down. Everything I had asked God to remove from me I was trying to grab them back.

I knew what these things could do to me if I let them grow and fester. I prayed to God to take the resentment and the self pity away. I feel much better now than I did. I dont know when the hurt will go away.

I drank many times over less than this so something I'm doing is working. I know it wouldn't work without God's help and talking to other alcoholics.

I'm looking at all of this as positive as I can. I have a job and its gonna be a lot less stressful than the other one. And I didn't drink.

[ccs]

thanks so much for sharing your victory with us and showing us the program in action and like you said you didnt DRINK !! AMEN ! Brother
thats what its all about !!!

LUV-2-ALL CEss

[garden variety]

Hi Worm,

I'm glad you shared your solution with us. I found that finding and keeping a positive attitude, especially in adversity, really helps wonders. Another thing I've found to be mind-blowing is when I stop and realize how many friends I've made in the fellowship, and how many of those friends really do support me with their prayers.

I just did a little spell out of work, and I did not have enough paid time to clear me. When I went back into work this week, I found that my co-workers had donated their vacation time to cover a good 40-50 hours of my unpaid time. I was overwhlemed when I found that out - I didn't lose an hour of time because some of my co-workers thought so much about me that they were willing to give me their paid vacation time. That has to be about the biggest blessing I've seen in a while. My guess is that if I didn't have a positive attitude, I would have been a lot poorer.

I tell you what - I owe. I owe so much to so many. The book tells me that "Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics". That's another thing I found out to be so true these days. Sometimes I don't always want to help another alcoholic, especially when I don't sense there's anything in it for me - I mean like I really have to do some work and not expect anything in return. I've been given so much that to not give back in return would just be wrong.

Well I do the work in spite of me, and as always, not only does it keep me sober, but it catapults me higher and higher into that 4th dimension of existence I never knew existed. I still probably could give more of myself. But I've experienced that whatever I give, the return to me is multiplied through that crazy thing they call "AA math" around here.

God bless you my friend and keep up the good work, especially if you're rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty helping another. You are not alone no matter what you go through, and there's plenty of folks that you might not even know that love you and hold you up in their prayers.

Paul

[Dallas]

Thanks for sharing your experience, strength and hope -- and the actions that you're taking to get through the difficulties and the blessings.

I appreciate you.

Dallas

[Jools]

Hey Worm,

Glad you're here and thank you for sharing.

My husband has taken a 5% cut in pay, he has to take a week off in May and one in June. His company is hurting, they have millions of dollars worth of inventory sitting on the ground.

We've been preparing for this because they've had a couple of layoffs already. We have about 2 months worth of money in the bank for bills. One thing this economic crisis has taught me is to get back to the basics. Food, shelter, etc. It's also taught me to save, something I've never done because I've always been an instant gratification kind of gal.

Something, too, this program has taught me that I can trust in God rather than trust in myself. My material possessions aren't so important anymore. If something happens where I lose my home, so be it, it's just a house. People are important to me today and reaching out to others.

I'm glad you still have a job and thank you for sharing. I'm REALLY glad you didn't find it necessary to take a drink over it. Gods gotcha!

Hugs to you,
Julie

[Tim]

I had to learn how to suffer without taking a drink. And the longer I am sober, the greater the chances that I will suffer loss--job, illness, relationships, financial and more. But the benefits of sobriety far outweigh the suffering.

[Dallas]

One thing this economic crisis has taught me...

The one thing that econcomic crisis has taught me... (through self-searching)... is that every single time it has been reported that we have an "economic crisis"... I made more money in those years and lived a better qualify of life... than I did when it was reported that "the economy is good!"

That has been my experience while drinking and while sober.

Yes. I did suffer some great losses during some of the "economic crisis" times... (stock market crashes, etc.) but my cashflow consistantly was increasing. And, when it wasn't increasing... I still had an abundance of the things that I really needed.

I always thought that was an interesting discovery for me.

My first reaction was... "Gees!!! Us alcoholics are a tough bunch! What would wipe out normal people... we just trudge right through it!"

My best wishes go out to all who are suffering bad times. I understand. I've gone through many of them sober... and I learned that because of God's grace and AA... I didn't have to drink over them... they did pass... and life continually got better... as I made some important discoveries about living life sober.

I also learned that it was my perception and judgement of what's "good and bad" has a tremendous amount to do with my experiences of good and bad.

I learned that if I changed my thinking, thoughts and attitudes... about what was good and bad... it could literally change my life and my experience of my experience.

There have been a few times that were so bad... that I considered that the fact that I was still sober was the best thing going on for me!

Later on, after I got through the bad time... as I reflected on it, I realized it could have gotten much worse... but, it didn't. And, I learned that a loving God and loving people were caring about me and sometimes carrying me... as I trudged on the Road of Happy Destiny.

Dallas