OKaysez

 

Made a Decision

(45)

                  Happy New Year, 2022

                                               But Beware the Janfeb Blues

The lights, tinsel, baubles and other holiday decorations have now been packed away (or at least that process has begun). 

Presents have been admired and now are in use. Thank you letters have been sent. Tree needles swept up. Leftovers all eaten or tucked away in the freezer ... 

         Good, bad, or indifferent, the holidays of 2021 are behind us. 

For many of us the holiday season is just one big month-long High - days filled with excitement, worry, family feuds, parties to steer carefully through, lots of meetings to keep our heads screwed on, gifts to buy, money concerns, dinners to plan, and 2021's special worry during yet another Covid spike - "guests or no guests?"

It's important for all of us to remember that, just as leftovers follow the feast day turkey or ham, any time a recovering alcoholic hits a high zone there will usually be a low zone following right along behind it.

And this year, with Covid and bigger climate worries added to the mix, the Janfeb Blues may find us even lower than usual. 

So what's to be done? 

"The key to survival" (as I read just today) "is not in maintaining a stiff upper lip, as we have been told, but to express our vulnerability. We’re not complaining or whining when we do so. We’re just bonding ourselves to the rest of the human race."

AA meetings are a great place for a bit of whining and a lot of bonding. So stuff January and February chock full of them as a way of being good to yourself. 

 (I did my share of whining at one just today. It helped me tremendously). 

We're not alone in these blue feelings at this time of year, but unlike so many people, we in AA have a solution. The good news is right there on page 42 in our Big Book: "Quite as important was the discovery that spiritual principles would solve all my problems."

So if you haven't yet acquired the habit of daily prayer and meditation, perhaps now in this New Year it might be a good time to start.

It might also be a good idea to set aside that stick you use to beat yourself up with. The ability to realize our past mistakes happens as recovery opens us up to our feelings. 

But to dwell on them stops us from moving forward. Past mistakes kept current in our heads can crush us.

 

I recently read we need to put those mistakes under our feet and use them as a platform to view our new and better horizon.

Great suggestion! 

Learning to love ourselves enough to stay sober is the true beginning of our ongoing AA adventure. 

A new year offers us 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days, 8,760 hours, 525,600 minutes - plenty of time - a day at a time - to step up to the plate and knock the ball out of the park ... or, in England, to score the goals right there in front of us. 

 We do it by putting the principles of our A.A. program into action, each and every day.

Happily it's still early enough in the new year for making resolutions. Making a renewed commitment to our recovery is one that can never go amiss. 

Without continued recovery from our addiction(s) we stand to lose everything we value - family, jobs, self-respect - so making a plan to do more in 2022 for, and in, AA - is a sensible resolution to make. 

Our entire lives are better because of the gifts AA has given us - and continues to give us - but those gifts actually come with an obligation to extend the hand of AA to others in need.  We can take it upon ourselves to carry our fair share of the load, not grudgingly, but joyfully.  

Our literature tells us over and over again that service to others is the key for getting ourselves out of the doldrums ... in January, February, or any other month. 

If service sounds more like work than fun, try adopting a mind change from - "this is what I have to do," and instead go for - "this is what I 

Get to do." 

(Works every time).

Work and prayer are the two forces that can gradually make for a better world. It's in our best interest to work for the betterment of ourselves and for other people. Prayer can guide us into a better life, but "faith without works is dead."

  Our lives get better and better when we contribute to the welfare of others and, in so doing, strive to become better people ourselves. 

(Continuing to work the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Steps is a big assist here.)  

 Don't ever give up - give back. 

(Your heart and your brain will be better for it.)

As for additional New Year's Resolutions, 

instead of the annual "lose ten pounds" or "run five miles every day," how about resolving to give:

Forgiveness to an enemy; tolerance for an opponent; our whole heart to a trusted friend; good service to a customer; kindness to all; a good example for children; love and respect for ourselves.

In 2022 we can smile more, laugh more, care more, read more, and do more. I plan to start by turning off the barrage of bad news provided by the 24-hour news cycle and to resist the urge to fight back on any of the social media platforms.

 I'd rather whistle a happy tune and head to a meeting. Once there, as I listen to everyone share their experience, strength and hope, I'm sure to hear just what I need to lift and keep me out of the Janfeb blues.