A Sincere Thank You For All The Special June 11th Wishes…

I just wanted to express my gratitude to all those out there who took the time yesterday to wish me a happy 45th birthday and congratulate me on making it to my 22nd anniversary of sobriety from alcohol and drugs.

Whether that came through the multitude of phone calls, text and Facebook messages, responses to the blog I posted yesterday, or even comments to my main profile picture, all were truly a blessing.

As it wasn’t too long ago, when I was still acting completely selfish, self-centered, and negative more than not, living out my life in the downward spiral of a sex and love addiction, where I could count on one hand the amount of people who reached out to wish me a special day on June 11th.

But I’m a firm believer that much of reason why I probably received more than 200 happy wishes this year is because my spiritual self has changed so greatly through all my 12 Step recovery work. No longer do I live in a world where I expect the world to serve me and my needs. Instead, I do my best these days to find ways to help those in need and give back to the world, rather than take from it.

So maybe somehow this shift I’ve gone through, and on some level, am still going through, has caused others to start seeing me in a different light. One that motivated so many of you to think of me this year on a day that far too often felt entirely empty and alone for me in many year’s prior.

And whether each of you who contacted me this June 11th know this or not, you ultimately helped to overcome a self-defeating belief I’ve had on occasion as of late, that I’m a forgettable person in this world who doesn’t deserve much of anything given how long I took from this world.

That’s why I’m sincerely thanking each of you here from the bottom of my heart, for all the special wishes I received this year on my June 11th birthday and sober date, and for showing me that I am loved, that God loves me, and that I do matter…

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

A 45th Birthday Reminder Of My Accomplishments Rather Than My Failures…

I was told by a medium several decades ago that I was going to live until the ripe old age of 90. If that’s true, then I’ve finally reached the halfway point of my life, as today is my birthday and I’m now 45 years old. I’d like to mention as well that I’m also celebrating 22 years of continuous sobriety from alcohol, drugs, and cigarettes today, being that the last time I had any of those was June 10th, 1995.

Nevertheless, it’s strange to ponder the thought that I might actually be halfway over with my life already, as sometimes I don’t think I’ve accomplished much in life thus far. Yet, sometimes I think that’s just an illusion my ego tries to tell me, always pointing to the idea that I’m a failure.

You see, it’s my ego that far too often compares myself to at all those people in the world who have earned multiple degrees, including doctorates, who speak several languages, who have published books, who have a talent that’s made them famous, who have devoted their life to ministry, who are successfully running their dream business, etc., all by the same age as I am now.

Yet, if I throw away that illusion and go to my heart and the Source itself, that being God and the Spirit within me, a question arises for me to think about.

Maybe I’ve accomplished exactly that which I was supposed to accomplish by this point in life?

 What I mean by that is the fact that although I haven’t earned more than my one bachelor’s degree yet, or learned to speak a bunch of languages yet, or published any books yet, or have any talent that’s put me on the world’s radar yet, or preached to any congregation yet, or opened my own dream business yet, I HAVE achieved the following…

Found sobriety from addictions to alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, caffeine, sex, love, and codependency

  • Successfully sponsored a number of people through the entire 12 Step recovery process
  • Found healing from being molested
  • Found healing from both parents suicidal-type deaths
  • Found a level of acceptance to embrace my sexuality openly
  • Wrote monthly as a columnist for two newspapers
  • Started a spiritual blog that I continue to write for daily for over four years now
  • Learned to meditate and now spend 45 minutes each day doing so, and have gone for as long as 4 hours as well
  • Have successfully taught meditation to plenty of others, ranging from 1 to around 100 people
  • Self-taught myself numerology and have done many of those readings for others
  • Have done leads at plenty of recovery meetings over the years, sharing my experience, strength and hope at them, a few times even to almost 200 people
  • Was a Deacon at a church for several years where I served communion and prayed over others every Sunday
  • Wrote two full length Young Adult fiction fantasy-based novels that could potentially be turned into two separate series

And well, that’s just what I could come up with in about 15 minutes of time as I pondered that question.

So, I think that’s why it’s best to never compare myself to anyone, because my ego is constantly going to try to show me how there’s someone else out there who’s done a lot more in life than me and in turn, tell me I’m a failure because of it. Instead, I’m going to choose to believe on this 45th birthday, regardless of whether it’s the halfway point of my life or not, that I have accomplished a lot already…maybe even to the exact degree of what God always envisioned for me to achieve by the time I reached 16,436 days old.

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