Life on life's terms...

I hear this statement many times per week. That as member's of AA it's important that we learn to live life on life's terms. That's what it has been all this week. Life is going to keep sending us one challenge after another and it's how we react to those situations that matters. Before I would have picked up a drink and tried to forget any "new issues". But now I find that I'm smack dab in the middle of them and I have to walk through the messes now rather than avoid them. It's amazing how many times a day I keep turning my will over to God, asking for his will not mine, saying the Serenity Prayer, staying in the moment, and before I know it the problem has passed, and I'm sober, and doing OK. One thing I'm learning to do is step out of my comfort zone. My daughter has been begging me to chaperone a field trip this year. I'm not the best at this, and it stems from the fact that I was one of the few working moms when my oldest was in preschool. I always felt like I was apologizing for working, like I was a bad mother. Now of course I realize that these are my own phobeas, and I created this subtle difference but it always turned me off for volunteering. I would think, "let the stay at home moms drive". How self-centered and inconsiderate of me, like being a stay at home mom isn't one of the toughest jobs there is. So I agreed to help take her class on a trip to the museum. She was thrilled, and even though I was apprehensive at first I had a great time. The kids that drove with me were very funny, the other mom's were very nice, and my daughter was thrilled. I was ashamed of the fact that I hadn't done this a lot more, and have decided since I can't change the past, I can volunteer for future events. I need to step out of my comfort zone more often.
After dinner I attended the Wednesday night Woman's meeting. It was a small group but the discussion was great. Everyone just seemed to be dealing with something but there we were, laughing and sharing and building one another up so we head back out the door and deal with life. Life on life's terms. It's not so frightening when you realize you are not along. AA has given me a feeling that I am never alone, and this has made a huge difference in my life......