Many people think they just have to go out and get something and it’s theirs. These people have yet to learn that many things in life are a by-product or an end result of something else (cause and effect). In a society where so many people have lost their sense of patience or the value of hard work put into something… Walk up to a woman unkempt, broke, no car, no job, hungover… and tell them you want them and see what their reaction is. Welcome to that same woman welcome well kept, in your right mind, with a decent vehicle calm a little money in your pocket and a decent job….. Approach them respectfully and ask them out for a date wait and see what their reaction will be. Go knock on the door of a law firm and tell them you want to be a lawyer. When they ask you if you have a degree and where you have worked and you tell them “I don’t have a degree and I’ve never worked…” They’ll take it to come back in 5 years. Now go to school, and learn the law, get your certificate of completion, pass the bar, and then go knocking on their door – Recovery is a lot like that. Staying sober, the quality of life slowly improving – to include our relationships with the people around us – these are all by ‐products of something else.*

*Some people resort to, either intentionally or out of ignorance; substitutes for the real thing, hoping to garner the same result or outcome (usually a shortcut that ultimately fails). And not without cost either – time, energy, money, sometimes we end up hurting reputations, and sometimes we end up hurting those around us.