Life Boring?

At my Wednesday night home group meeting last night, a guy who'd just passed the 30-day mark in his sobriety shared about how although he was glad to be sober 30 days, he was feeling somewhat bored with his life.  He felt that all he was doing was getting up, going to work, going to a meeting and then going to bed.  He was bored sick!  We all laughed, I suppose because we'd all been there -- and even those with years of sobriety were still capable of feeling such boredom even now.

Since at this meeting we allow others to give us feedback during the meeting, this guy got some feedback based on what others had done when they found themselves in similar situations:  try taking up a commitment in one of your meetings just so that you're "a part of" and not just a passive observer in your own recovery....  be patient, don't drink and these periods will pass... when these feelings come, talk about it with your sponsor or, like he had just done, with other alcoholics...  try making a gratitude list and if that's difficult, read pages 416-420 of the Big Book.

I shared with him that when I hear someone complaining about being bored with their life, I ask them to tell me more about what they are doing with their days over a week or month's time.  Invariably, what I discover is that the reason they are feeling bored is that they are leading a boring life!  The cause of boredom is oftentimes BEING boring!  The definition of boring is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting the SAME results! 

Doing the same thing today for my sobriety that I did yesterday or last week or last year will not keep me sober today.  Thank God!

I'm all for structure and routine.  In fact, I'm probably obsessively just that!  But I regularly shake things up in my schedule and routine.  I try to go to different meetings, new meetings that I've never been to before.  I will sometimes leave the house with the intention of going to a 6:30am meeting (like I did today) and realize that I really don't want to go to that meeting today.  I'd rather go to work early and spend an hour blogging about something, anything!  Even boredom!  Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.  I sometimes do something just because it's uncomfortable or different.

I love my life.  It's rich.  Multi-colored.  Curvy and zig zaggedy.  Full of different and oftentimes contradictory feelings, moods and attitudes.  My life often doesn't go according to plan and, in retrospect, that's what makes it so rich and full.  And when the rare time comes where I find my life becoming boring, I know from experience that the ball's in my court.  Life isn't waiting to live me.

Take care!

Mike L.