"This too shall pass"

I remember in early sobriety when Charity, my sponsor, used to say this phrase.  So much happened during my first year.   About 3 or 4 months in sobriety, a doctor in the ER of a local hospital acted-out sexually by rubbing his privates against my leg while I held my head in my hands during a terrible migraine.  The feelings I felt were like a tsunami of self-loathing because I experienced this as if it was my fault.  Then in my 8th month I watched a live action news that showed police and EMS personnel at a site where 4 young people were shot only to find-out one of them was my oldest son.  I had no cellphone at that time.  The long drive in the night to town stretched into an eternity of darkness, the grief washing over me and the deep terror of not knowing whether he was dead or alive.  (They all lived and apparently were shot with pellets but I didn't know this at the time.)

It's true.  When we get sober we do feel better.  We feel all our feelings better, close and up personal.  No numbing or diluting, pure unadulterated feelings.  Jeesh.

So I hunkered down and worked my program one day at a time, sometimes just one minute at a time was all I could do as I learned a different way to live life.  Thank GOD, it does get better, not perfect but a hell of a lot better than it was before.

I am grateful for one of my recovery tools which is "The Courage to Change" Al-Anon book where this phrase is a meditation on pages 77 and 315.  GOD bless...