SLIP?
I hear people say when they drink again, “I had a little SLIP.”
You mean a relapse? A slip implies that drinking again was somehow an accident—that I had nothing to do with it.
No.
Sobriety Losing Its Priority
That’s what a SLIP is right there. Sobriety losing its priority! The relapse begins long before I take that drink again. If I am not vigilant about my sobriety and make that my number one priority, I can start thinking old thoughts, repeating old behaviors, and I am right back where I was while drinking. Alcohol becomes my solution again. Relapse becomes a possibility. I start making excuses for my behavior.
In these times, when I am more isolated than normal, I can see how people can go down this path of repeat behavior because it is easier to check out—especially with all the added stress of the unknown. Too much time to think of the what if’s.
I know I have more recovery work to do because I am still alive. I am never “OVER” my alcoholic thinking disease—
Drinking is not an option for me anymore. Period. Now I ask myself, “What am I doing for my sobriety today?”
Then, I pray and ask God to relieve me of the bondage of self to get out of my own head. Next, I help somebody in need or serve in some way. Sometimes that is just going to a meeting and sitting in the seat to be there for others. Or, now, a zoom meeting—showing up online for others who are struggling.
Retrain your brain.
Be transformed by behaving differently.
Try it. It works.
“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Psalm 139:23-24
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