No Pain - No Gain

The chairwoman at today's meeting was celebrating 3 years of continuous sobriety.

That's all I could get out before I got distracted.  It reminded me of my good, good friends in The Old City interrupting me each year as I announced my anniversary: "That's continuous sobriety, Seaweed?  It has to be continuous sobriety."

"Oh, continuous sobriety?" I'd reply.  "I didn't know it had to be continuous."

Anyway, she had gone through a difficult year.  There were some deaths and sickness to close family members; and she had made some big changes in her personal and business life voluntarily.  It had been a painful time.  I used to separate events into two camps: Good Stuff and Bad Stuff.  Today I prefer thinking about Pleasant Things and Painful Things.  I try not to use the good and bad qualifiers because I simply don't have the skills to see clearly into the future, my proclamations notwithstanding.

Our literature is full of references and examples about the presence of pain in our lives.  It suggests that pain is not a bad thing; it isn't a pleasant thing but that isn't the same as bad.    "Pain was the touchstone of all spiritual progress," to quote a wise man.  "No pain - no gain," to quote some beefhead at the gym.  I know that I don't tend to grow when I'm getting my way - it's when I'm hurting that I do the hard work to make changes for the better.  

And I enjoy that I'm not peering into the future with a lot of fear and trepidation anymore.  Part of this I attribute to the fact that I've lived through some difficult things - problems of money, power, and sex - without drinking and with relative good cheer.  When I'm tempted to quake at some future calamity I can draw comfort from the fact that I'm going to get through it without drinking and with relative good cheer.  

"Pain is inevitable - suffering is optional," to quote my chowderhead sponsor.