As I think back, I have never had any real patience. From the time I was a young child through my adult life, I’ve always been about instant gratification. I wanted everything now, and if I didn’t get what I wanted, I threw a fit many times.
As a child, those fits were tantrums, but as an adult, sometimes I would lash out or maybe even let it percolate and then blow up at some other point on some unsuspecting individual.
As I’m writing this, I’m just past my 14th anniversary of sobriety, and patience is still not always a virtue for me. It’s one of those character defects that we all talk about that needs constant attention.
With this whole sobriety thing that we do, many people regain stuff in their lives relatively quickly and with relatively little effort. The recovery literature tells us that if we do the work, we will regain things, sometimes swiftly and sometimes slowly. So far in my sobriety, everything has been of the “sometimes slowly” variety.
Let me be clear, though. That’s the only way that I ever appreciate anything in life. Whether I like it or not, if I don’t work for it, and in many cases, if I don’t have to wait for it, I won’t appreciate it.
My sobriety journey and my life since I’ve been sober have not always been easy and certainly not whatever perfect is supposed to be, but I’m at a pretty cool point in my life right now. I’m in the middle of 2 months of traveling, and I can do this because I have a remote job that allows me to do what I do and to be wherever I want to be.
Just like everything else, though, that didn’t happen overnight. I learned that you can afford to live renting through Airbnb and started making my plan. When I first had the idea of what I wanted to do and started doing the research, it took me about three years to reach this point.
Ideally, I wanted all this to happen a couple of years ago, but the job didn’t get placed in my path until a couple of months ago, and I had a couple of other life events that would have prevented me from doing this either way at that time.
But you know what? It’s all been worth the wait, and it’s been worth the patience I’ve had to have over the last few years.
I will undoubtedly want many other things in my life, and I will need to be patient. Will it be easy? Possibly not, but will it be worth it? Absolutely.
By: Bill L. of Sober Not Mature
RECOVERY PODCASTLAND: Welcome aboard the wild and wacky world of the ‘Sober Not Mature‘ podcast, where sobriety stories and off-the-cuff hilarity are the order of the day! This is no hushed whispers recovery circle, folks. We’re all about airing out those sobering thoughts that keep you up at night, only we do it with a side of sass and a whole lot of laughs.
At the helm of this crazy ship, we have our two sober (but definitely not staid) hosts. Meet Bill, the self-proclaimed CEO – that’s Chief Egotistical Officer for those playing along at home. His job? To ensure every episode is inflated with enough ego to make Kanye West blush.
Then there’s Mike, our COO or Chief Obscenity Officer. Yep, you read that right. Mikes got a potty-mouth that would make a sailor blush, and he’s not afraid to use it. Their titles alone should give you a hint of the irreverent mayhem that ensues in this recovery podcast. Buckle up, recovery readers. It’s going to be a wild and sober ride.
#ADDTOCART SOBER NOT MATURE
SOBERSCRIBE NOW!
Resources Are Available
If you or someone you know is experiencing difficulties surrounding alcoholism, addiction, or mental illness, please reach out and ask for help. People everywhere can and want to help; you just have to know where to look. And continue to look until you find what works for you. Click here for a list of regional and national resources.
