You know, you can’t just get in the car, start it up, AIM and hit the gas pedal, and think that’s it … you’re all set.
You got to make adjustments all the time … the road curves a bit to the right … adjust the steering wheel … it’s raining … change the speed, slow down … oops, traffic light … got to brake & stop … drive around that big box plunked in the middle of the road.
And if you don’t do all of this … ALL THE TIME … you CRASH!
Same with the program … it’s those small daily adjustments and staying aware and focused that keep you sober … that and sponsors and meetings and the literature etc.
Then there’s the question of getting tired … sometimes called running out of gas … well, in a car, it’s literally running out of gas … and then you’re stuck … sputtering … dead … going nowhere.
Course, the program’s not sold by the gallon … but it’s available everywhere … just like gas stations are. It’s meetings, asking for help, doing the work, doing the next right thing, living a day at a time … but it keeps US up and RUNNING. Smells better than gas does too.
MAINTENANCE … like don’t do any and your car goes dead in the road or the driveway or the pond you sunk to the bottom of.
Don’t keep up your maintenance in the program … you’re back guzzling a bottle … or back in rehab … or counting the bars in your jail cell which are all fuzzy cuz you can’t see too well.
If you can learn to drive a car, you can learn to stay sober. Much the same principle.
Your manual is the Big Book, the 12 And 12, and other AA literature, meetings and the wisdom and fellowship of other drunks. And being of service to others is the high test and the fancy wax job and the rad rims you ride on down the street. And all the promises come true for you.
– Carolyn O – Orlando