No, I'm not talking about the Queen song.
I went to my meditation meeting with a friend, and stayed for the meeting that happens later on.
A buddy of mine chaired the meeting. He'd just found out that a friend of his, who he'd tried to introduce to the program, has died. From using.
The chairman, and another friend of ours there at the meeting went on the twelfth-step call for that poor bastard. Incidentally, they also both knew my friend, John, who passed away a little over a year ago. Also from using.
According to my sponsor, who's a substance-abuse counselor (and should be up on these stats), 10% of us with this disease die in recovery.
Ten percent.
Last night, I went to an NA meeting. Somebody had mentioned that there are people who work the steps within a matter of weeks or even days. And a smartass pipes up with a comment that they couldn't have done a thorough job.
Well, I don't think that the member who screws around "working their third step" (avoiding the fourth) until he relapses, or until his life gets shitty enough to make him take action (uh, hitting too close to home here...) is being very thorough.
Like my sponsor mentioned to me last weekend: relapse does NOT have to be part of anyone's story; it is NOT a necessary part of the recovery process. And, it always carries the risk of death.
Hopefully, I'll have something else to blog about soon. Having problems of suddenly jumping up ten tax brackets, and needing to choose between the affections of two witty, charming women would be a nice change...
Hey, a guy can dream!
-M
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