Welcome to another Grateful Heart Monday entry full of gratitude for someone or something from my life that’s truly touched my heart and soul! For today, it’s for landing another volunteer opportunity in my 12 Step recovery and for the friend in my 12 Step circles who made that happen.
I’ve come to learn over the many years I’ve remained clean and sober from alcohol and drugs and a number of other addictions as well that all the craziness in the outer world around me and all the craziness I feel in my frequently squirrely brain can be easily tamed by helping another. My greatest joy in life today actually and quite possibly the only joy I truly feel I have in life right now is when I’m helping another, which seems to be primarily focused in my 12 Step recovery realms presently.
Since COVID hit, many of those opportunities were severely restricted or eliminated altogether for me, which left me feeling quite despondent and sometimes even purposeless. Beyond my weekly commitment I still have at Rescue Crisis, I had a bunch of other ones that had kept me going, including a weekly one at a local jail, a quarterly one at two Greek organizations at the University of Toledo (UT), and a bi-weekly one for multiple nursing classes also at UT. Unfortunately, COVID greatly affected them, leaving me with far less time engaging in the one thing that has blessed my life more than anything, helping another suffering soul, especially from addiction.
Enter in my friend Jeff A., someone I’ve come to know quite well in my recovery circles here in Toledo over the years and now consider one of my trusted friends. Recently, when he became employed at a placed named Midwest Detox Center, one of the newer locations here in Toledo for addiction help, he asked if I wanted to do a lead for one of his groups one day soon. Of course, knowing how much opportunities like this strongly motivate not only my own recovery, but also my life in general, I said absolutely. That opportunity came to fruition shortly after that, on the last Monday in November.
I spoke in front of approximately 58 clients and several counselors that day, which was very well received with plenty of applause by the end. A number of the clients came up to me afterwards and thanked me profusely for reinvigorating their desire for recovery. Each felt I had connected directly to their heart, which I was quite grateful to hear. But, my biggest piece of gratitude that day actually wasn’t from all those accolades I received, because frankly, I feel God is far worthier and deserving of those than I, since it was He who’s guided me through it all over the years. Rather, the biggest thing I was grateful for was when I was asked if I’d be open to doing a recovery lead on a repeating basis there. I, of course, agreed immediately and settled on monthly rotation, given the rotation of clients there was about the same amount of time.
So, beginning in December, on the last Monday of the month and subsequently on every month moving forward, I will now have a new 12 Step recovery commitment to look forward to doing for an entirely new batch of individuals who might be seeking experience, strength, and hope from another to motivate their own journey to sobriety and recovery. I’m more than grateful to do this and for any time I’m ever able to get recovery commitments like this. It’s something I really do look forward to doing in my life these days, as I clearly remember when I never helped anyone but myself, and suffered immensely because of it.
That’s why I’m incredibly thankful today and dedicating today’s Grateful Heart Monday entry to Jeff A. and the Midwest Detox Center for providing me a new 12 Step recovery commitment in my life that I’m sure will continue to provide me plenty of joy in doing and hopefully help many others in the process on their own journeys to healing from addiction.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
