Safeguarding Sobriety (in the Sh*tshow)

By: JANA GREENE

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but please don’t pick up a drink because of all this. Statistics show that the need for liver transplants has risen by 300% since the beginning of Covid – as the stress of the pandemic has pushed so many into alcoholism.
This gestures wildly is every bit as terrifying; don’t allow it to push you.
I know you are hurting, freaked out, panicked. For an alcoholic, that’s very scary territory. Our own minds tell us unwinding with a drink will chill us out. We fight the urges to drink, yes. But we are also fighting our own brains. Our own bodies. Our disease.
I know it’s easy to say … who cares anyway, as mad as the world has gone!?
ME. I CARE.
So many people care, sweet friend.
You are loved, and we need to be of soundest mind to figure out where we can serve next, how we can be the antidote to the hate. Hating is easy, and any old addiction will fall right in line. But loving is hard. Fighting is hard. And requires soberness of mind, and fire of belly.
Listen, Beloveds:
There is absolutely nothing that using won’t make worse, I promise. Nothing. And the good people of America need you – your love, your example, your strength for whatever crazy is ahead.
Use your tools. Call your people. Plunk your ass in a seat at a meeting. Lean into your spirituality. Ask God for help. Practice self care.
Just don’t pick up a drink. Please. You’ve worked so hard. I SEE YOU. Stay strong.