Boy it sure is easy staying sober when things are going well. Picking up the phone to call someone when I have good news is easy. Gratitude is easy. Heck, I’m halfway to my own halo and wings I’m so connected to my HP.

But in trying times? Calling that friend who I know will validate me when I find some person, place, thing, or situation as being unacceptable to me is easy. It’s even easier to not call anyone at all, and eventually, just living in the 80 cubic inches above my shoulders sure feels like the easiest, softest way.

So, in challenging times like this, when meetings are getting cancelled, churches and venues are closing, people are told not to meet in groups… all of this gives me “permission” to avoid seeking contact and making proper use of the fellowship.

The program teaches us to focus on solutions.

How can I leverage technology to carry the message of Alcoholics Anonymous? We have recovery Facebook groups. People are starting, and attending, online AA meetings. Some of us have attended more meetings online over the last week than we attend when things are “normal”. We all carry cell phones. We all have ways to be connected.

But it’s up to me to be a part of my own solution. I’m the one who dials the phone. I get online. I don’t do Facebook so I leave that to others (And holy cow, did my quality of life improve after I dropped that confirmation-bias-rabbit-hole, but that’s a whole different story). I’m reminded of the Buffett lyric, “When your phone’s not ringing, it’s me.” No one is responsible for me being connected, or disconnected, but myself.

I can always find a way to be a part of a solution, and not accept the permission to be disconnected. There’s a whole, wide world of recovery available.

May I be with you in the Fellowship of the Spirit, and meet some of you as we trudge the Virtual Road of Happy Destiny.

Scott D.