These are all of the things we hear. It be every day, or all of the time, or sometimes, or maybe even far too often. In today’s meeting at my Home Group, I hear from Page 89, Chapter 7, and “Working With Others.” I have never been good at this specific paragraph, but life does take on a whole new meaning. I sometimes forget what it was like. I think of what life is like now. I think of what to do to make sure it stays.

But I remember myself when I stop and think. And I do need to stop. I need to be okay enough to place myself there. I then wonder whether it can really be that bad for anyone else? It can. I don’t know their stories yet, but I know mine. So, I can create the space to hear theirs. The first time around, it helps just enough to feel some relief. I remember the first time I was able to share anything about me. It was a mess, that’s for sure. I have no idea what I could have said. I have no idea what I may have felt. I know i felt like relief.

That didn’t happen so quickly. It took a long time before I could experience anything outside myself at all. I had these walls, these boundaries, barriers, blocks, all circling me for such a long time that I didn’t know how to bring them down. Yes, I was in the center and barely able to breathe. Now thinking of this, remembering for the first time, I am realizing what that whole new meaning to life means to me right now.

I can go on, but know that there will be a time when you will realize the pain another person feels, for whatever reason it is. It can be heartbreak, it can be work, school, friends, family lies destruction in their own mind which means nothing to you, and it will start meaning something. It’s not the same but it’s exactly the same. It’s my story, that’s yours, but as different as they are, they will certainly be the same. It’s at that precise point. When I am like you, and you are like me, and I feel my pain because you’re telling me about yours. That is when it =begins to matter the most.

Call sobriety right thinking if you’d like, but I wish you that every 24 hours. Count the day, not the week. Count the hours, and allow yourself to be happy. Whatever you do, do it well. Wherever your heart is, allow it to happen.