Category: Grateful Heart Monday

It’s time for another Grateful Heart Monday, where the subject of today’s writing is always on a piece of gratitude from my life, which for today I wanted to follow up my writing from two days ago, the day where I turned the big 5-0, where I talked about the question I kept asking myself of, “Why I am here?”. I thought it’d appropriate to focus today on something connected to turning the big 5-0, and that’s all the major things I’m grateful for from the first five decades of my life. So here goes…and in no particular order of importance…

I’m grateful for all the lessons my parents taught me growing up that helped me to both learn what to do in life and not to do.

I’m grateful for getting my diploma from Arlington High School in Lagrange, NY, with an average of 94%, and a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Rochester, NY, with a GPA of 3.76.

I’m grateful to have become both a brother and founding father of Phi Kappa Psi New York Theta at RIT as well.

I’m grateful to have spent ten years in the computer industry doing everything from computer programming and software testing to quality assurance and quality control, all of which helped me to finally realize it wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

I’m grateful to have owned an 8-guest room bed and breakfast for seven years (1848 Island Manor House) on a remote island in Chincoteague, Virginia where I learned much about owning my own business and realized it too wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

I’m grateful to have found sobriety and recovery from so many addictions, including alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, sex, love, codependency, and spending money.

I’m grateful to have found healing from the PTSD I endured from family alcoholism and mental health issues, from being bullied, from being molested, and from both my mother and father’s tragic and sudden deaths at their own hands.

I’m grateful to have greatly excelled in a good number of physical activities throughout my life prior to the chronic pain starting up in my life, including swimming, basketball, bowling, tennis, hiking, and biking.

I’m grateful to have travelled as much as I have both outside this country and within it, to Europe, Mexico, the Caribbean, Canada, and much of the contiguous United States.

I’m grateful to have loved and been loved by a number of partners and friends over many years to learn what loving another and being loved by another actually feels like.

I’m grateful to have lived as close as I have to major cities including New York City, Washington D.C., and Boston, where I got to explore city life as deeply as I did.

I’m grateful for the 15 hard years of volunteer work I’ve put into the addiction recovery field and all the people I’ve sponsored in the 12 Step program along the way.

I’m grateful to have had quite a few amazing spiritual experiences in my life that I can’t rationalize or explain that have led me to know there is something “out there”, “up there”, “around me”, and “within me”, that helps me to keep going in all the suffering I continue to go through with my health.

I’m grateful to the many who have prayed with me, over me, and for me throughout my life, especially in recent years with all the struggles I’ve faced.

I’m grateful to still have some family alive, including my sister and my three nephews, who love me dearly and who I love dearly as well.

I’m grateful to have survived many things that should have taken my life but never did, things that still baffle me to this day how I made it through them when so many in this world haven’t.

I’m grateful to still have all my senses present and my limbs still functioning enough to walk and drive.

I’m grateful for never having gone without food, water, or shelter at any point in my life.

I’m grateful to have been given the gift to write and speak motivationally, two things I never even knew I had until this past decade.

I’m grateful for my present partner, someone who has endured so much of my health issues and pain struggles yet remained by my side for over 10 years now, trusting and believing that I will get better, even when I’ve had a hard time believing it myself on many days.

And I’m grateful to God for having made all these things to be grateful for even possible.

So, on this Grateful Heart Monday, I choose to thank God all these things and all the things I didn’t list here yet are still upon my heart. After five decades of living, I truly have much to be thankful for, and know there will be more to be thankful for in the years to come. I pray that when my time finally comes, however many days, weeks, months, or years that is from now, that I leave this plane of existence still having a grateful heart, something I know is crucial to living a healthy spiritual life…

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

Welcome to another Grateful Heart Monday! Today’s piece of gratitude is dedicated to another reader of my blog who took the time to write me personally and thank me for the all the personal testimony of my life that I continue to share on this site, TheTwelfthStep. Today’s piece of gratitude is solely dedicated to them because I feel truly blessed to having received yet another confirmation from God that this blog continues to help others.

As I’ve mentioned multiple times in my writing over the past few years, I’ve often wondered if my transparent sharing of my life about recovery from addiction, the PTSD I’ve suffered from, all my health struggles, and many other aspects of my life has even helped anyone besides me. This reader’s personal letter is yet another confirmation that it is, which I am so very thankful for and so, today’s Grateful Heart Monday is dedicated to “D.” (name removed for anonymity purposes) and their sincere words to me, which are included below…

Good morning! My name is D., and I found your site maybe a year ago by accident looking up various things about addiction. I think your journey and ongoing one is amazing. I get overwhelmed (even as an adult) by how much a single person can go through, and joyful when they find God to sustain them. I am currently reading a book called “All the Feels” by Elizabeth Laing Thompson on how to deal with feeling big emotions. She reminds readers of Isaiah 43:13 “From eternity to eternity I am God. No one can snatch anyone out of my hand. No one can undo what I have done.” One verse out of many to remind us how He sustains us. I love the jokes too!! They are some of the best I’ve come across in a long time. Keep up your good work touching others. Best wishes, D.

D., thank you so much for reaching out, as it means more to me than you may know. I dedicate today’s Grateful Heart Monday to your sincerity and kindness to me. And best wishes to you as well…

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

Welcome to another chapter of Grateful Heart Monday, which for today is for one of my Facebook friends I have yet to meet in person, but someone who still made a big impact upon my life a few weeks ago when they reached out to me via Facebook Messenger. Due to the subject material of the conversation we had, I opted to leave their name anonymous in today’s entry.

I know many don’t use the Facebook messaging client anymore or never have. I still do though and tend to check my messages multiple times a day there. A few weeks ago, when this person reached out to me there via the video side of it, I was hesitant to answer because I had never communicated to them before, yet something told me I should at least respond via the texting side of it. They told me they were a fellow person in recovery from alcohol and drug addiction and would like to talk to me when I was available. I made time later that day and called them where I learned they had just come through a battle with cancer and were now in remission. They told me the purpose of wanting to talk to me through was more about how much my blog has helped them through many of the difficulties they’ve been facing in life.

Honestly, I was speechless. Here was someone who had just come through a serious health crisis that was taking the time to let me know how much I had helped them when I had never even met them. Sometimes I don’t really know the impact of the words I write in this blog. Sad to say I seem to irritate many with my writing, especially when I discuss things involving God or in recent years the pandemic or politics.

Nevertheless, I was told how much my words had moved them again and again, comforting them and helping them on their own spiritual journey. I think what moved my heart the most though in the conversation was being told how much they felt I was doing a good job in life and making an impact here in Toledo, a place where they were from as well.

I have lost count of the number of days over the years here in Toledo where the darkness has tried to convince me that my writing is pointless and that I should just hang the towel up. Given the fact that maintaining this site costs me several hundred dollars a year, it seems as God keeps giving me one reminder after another that the price I’m paying to keep it going is worth it. This is why I’m so grateful today for this individual who had the courage to reach out to a total stranger and share about their recovery, both from their addiction and from a cancer battle, and also provide me an invaluable message of love in their own words. Words that said I do matter in this world and words that said someone was proud of me too, things I never heard much of in my life ever since I was a kid.

So, thank you my friend, you know who you are because I know you said you continue to follow my writing. I’m grateful that you took the time amidst your own struggles and spiritual journey of life, all to thank me, and let me know in your own way, that God is watching me and is proud of me. You have no idea how much your words affected me greatly in a beautiful way, I dedicate today’s Grateful Heart Monday to you my friend.

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson