Caretaking in Sobriety

Whether it is our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, or our children care taking of someone else is never an easy job, however it is one that we can now handle thanks to the tools we are given in Above It All, AA, or detox.  We are given many tools to help us in stressful times whether it is calling our sponsor to vent and find clarity, praying to our higher power to find inner peace, or attending a meeting to ground ourselves we are now able to work through our stressful situations while staying sober and incorporating the tools we learned from 12 step programs.  The gifts of this lifestyle are plenty and the fact is we are never alone. Being of service to our friends and family may seem taxing but it is a gift that allows us to get out of our heads and be of service to another human being. All too often in our using days we were selfish and only thought of our next drink  but being a caretaker gives us the ability to offer up compassion to a person in need.  

While working a strong program we are able to extend ourselves to helping someone who may have been the same person to support us on our journey to this beautiful life we are now able to live. Each time we open ourselves to helping someone it enriches our lives. We were given such a beautiful gift of sobriety and the best way to spread our message of experience, strength and hope is to reach out to those who now need us the most.  Most often it becomes a way of making a living amends to the people in our lives who we have wronged the most. Our parents, who we may have kept up late at night worrying about when and if we would make it home, the aunt or uncle who may have bailed us out when we got in too deep, or even the friend who spent nights up with us in hospital when things got really bad regardless of whom it may be we are caring for now being a care taker gives us the opportunity to give back to someone who has stuck by us no matter what and have seen our lives change for the better.