Tom Adams
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Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a powerful force for good in the US and around the world. Over the years, I’ve known and worked with many people whose lives have been positively transformed through their involvement with AA and other addiction recovery movements.
When I first began to confront my misuse of alcohol, successfully sober people told me things that seemed either irrelevant or naïve. Why would they invite me to “keep coming back?” What in the world does it mean that “the first drink gets you drunk?” or “God can do for you what you can’t do for yourself.” Perhaps the most puzzling was: “We’ll love you until you can love yourself.” What does loving myself have to do with getting sober? It was 1980. I was 31 years old, and I didn’t think my drinking problem was that bad. Then a near calamitous auto incident led me to question how my drinking was impacting my family. That led me to attend a few Twelve Step meetings where I pronounced myself “not that bad.” Fear got me there and fear kept me there long enough to realize my drinking was bad enough. It could be that the most compelling thing they told me was that misusing alcohol is a progressive illness. My drinking and its negative consequences will get worse.
Recent conversations have reminded me that holidays are not times of joy for all. Despite all the songs of good cheer and joy, holidays are a mixed bag for many, and a time of deep pain for some. This post explores this continuum of holiday experiences, and invites your reflection on how you view the arriving holidays.
Last week, November 26, was Bill Wilson’s birthday. He was born 129 years ago in 1895. He is the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous with Dr. Robert Smith of Akron. Like many people in recovery from addictions, I feel indebted to Bill and his wife Lois, and Dr. Bob and his wife Anne. The couples’ love for each other empowered Bill and Bob to survive a deadly addiction to alcohol. Together they created a “way out” of the despair and torture of an illness destructive to them, and their families.
Happy Thanksgiving week! I hope you are able to pause and reflect on the many ways that you are blessed. This week’s post is about why gratitude is not an annual celebration for me, rather a daily practice, and how that practice continues to grow and enrich my life.
I have been in recovery quite literally my entire adult life. The early days were very difficult. I was 21 years old attempting to stay in recovery and avoid all alcohol and other drug use while my peer group was in full experimentation mode. As I developed what is called recovery capital, recovery became easier. Yet, it is important for me to note here for readers that recovery is something I need to pay attention to. I take care of myself to stay in recovery. I am a few weeks shy of 38 years in recovery, I have developed a lot of recovery capital. Yet sustaining recovery still takes effort.
September is National Recovery Month in the United States and is joined with the International Day of Recovery on September 30 each year. This week’s post is about my personal experience as a person in recovery and why Recovery Month is important to all of us.
Editor’s Note: Happy Fourth of July week! In thinking about my many freedoms, I realized I was free to take a couple weeks off from writing this blog! My co-author Joy Jones and I are doing final edits on our book about Bill and Lois Wilson and their impact on the world of addiction and recovery. As noted in last week’s post Summer’s Gifts…
This week we celebrate the life of Lois Wilson on her birthday, March 4. Lois is a 20th-century leader and co-creator of the Twelve Step movement. Without her, the path to recovery for people with alcoholism and other addictions would be very different and perhaps wouldn’t exist at all. Given this, one might wonder why so few people know much about Lois.
Last week’s post celebrated the wedding anniversary of Bill and Lois Wilson, co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous (Bill) and Al-Anon Family Groups (Lois). We looked at their life and legacy from the point of view of our national aspirations of “liberty and justice for all”. We explored how many people today are free from the hell of alcohol, drugs, and other addictions because of the Twelve Step movement the Wilsons and others pioneered.
Tom Adams writes and speaks on topics vital to the intersection of our personal lives with our community and global lives. He has for decades been engaged in and written about nonprofit leadership and transitions, spirituality and spiritual growth, how we each contribute to a more just and equitable world and recovery from addictions and the Twelve Step recovery movement.