Sobriety is not a magic wand. Unfortunately some of us thought that it was when we came into the program. While we were active we faced a myriad of problems often the result of our own doing. We were so excited when we entered the program. We really thought that it would be smooth sailing now that we gave up our drug of choice. No doubt things were better. Many of the situations caused by our addiction no longer took place. However, to our dismay there were many other challenges in our lives that now occurred totally unrelated to alcohol, food or drugs. We embarked on new challenges and sometimes met failure. Of course while we were active, we had encountered failures as well. We thought we could chalk these up to our addiction. Now, we were still encountering failure, and could no longer blame a substance as the cause. Listening in meetings to other people share we gained new perspectives on these failures. One of them was that failure kept us humble. In the past, part of our modus operandi was to be arrogant and full of pride. Usually this was bravado or our denial of what was really happening. In sobriety, failures acted as a reality check for us. We were not perfect and would continue to make mistakes and fail sometimes. What was also now different is that we got up, dusted ourselves off and moved forward.

Personal Reflection: How do I deal with failure?