13,880 Days of Change for the Good

Posted August 9, 2025 - Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Change, Peace, Sobriety


Sobriety is never owned, it's rented, and rent is due everyday.

— Unknown —

Reflection:

Over the past few days, I’ve been writing about change—the struggle it brings and the beauty it produces.

The most life-altering change I ever made happened exactly 13,880 days ago, on August 9, 1987. That was the day I chose to get well after a five-year descent into the hell of addiction.

I remember it like it was yesterday. I walked into my living room after work and was met by an intervention—my wife, my brother, my boss, and a recovering alcoholic named Rusty.

That moment changed everything.

At the core of addiction is a thinking problem, and our thoughts stem from our beliefs. Change your beliefs, and you change your life.

Today, as I celebrate 38 years of sobriety, I want to share 38 sayings that represent the core beliefs that helped shape my journey.

Sayings and Truths for Living Sober and In Peace:

  1. My sobriety (peacefulness) is contingent upon my spiritual condition, which is contingent upon my belief and trust in a power greater than myself (for me, that power is Jesus).
  2. If I’m not the problem, there is no solution when I’m not at peace with something going on in my life.
  3. Today’s challenges serve as growth for tomorrow.
  4. My mind is like a bad neighborhood; I shouldn’t go there alone…especially when angry.
  5. Courage is fear that’s been prayed for.
  6. You can’t keep what you have unless you give it away.
  7. They say misery loves company; so does peace.
  8. I am at the center of my restlessness and discontent. The world around me doesn’t steal my peace when God is at my center.
  9. Anger and resentment cause more relapses into old thinking than any other emotion.
  10. Being a SNIOP indicates to the world how self-centered and insecure I am. SNIOP = Sensitive to the Negative Input of Other People.
  11. It’s OK to look back, but don’t stare.
  12. Serenity is not the absence of conflict but the ability to not let conflict steal my peace.
  13. Our minds are like parachutes; they only function effectively when open.
  14. We are only as sick as our secrets.
  15. This, too, shall pass.
  16. How important is it?
  17. You can’t live one way and pray another.
  18. You can’t believe in God and play God at the same time.
  19. Gratitude conquers all negative emotions every day of the week.
  20. Avoid the condition of HALT (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired).
  21. Hang around with the winners.
  22. You eat an elephant one bite at a time.
  23. Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forward. (Kierkegaard)
  24. This is a ‘One Day at a Time’ program. You are tied for first place in AA if you are clean and sober today.
  25. If drinking or drugging is interfering with your work, you’re probably a heavy addict or drinker. Conversely, if work interferes with your drinking or drugging, you’re probably an alcoholic and/or addict.
  26. If God were small enough to be understood, He wouldn’t be big enough to be God.
  27. I would rather go through life sober, believing I am an alcoholic, than go through life drunk, trying to convince myself that I am not an alcoholic.
  28. Resentments are like stray cats: if you don’t feed them, they’ll disappear.
  29. Step One: There’s a problem
    Step Two: There’s a solution
    Step Three: I get to choose what I want… problem? or solution?
    ~Father Martin
  30. If God seems far away, who moved?
  31. The road to sobriety is a simple journey for confused people with a complicated disease.
  32. Don’t ever be ashamed of your story. It may save someone’s life someday.
  33. Be who you say you are.
  34. Embrace the journey because the journey is the destination.
  35. When unable to untangle your thoughts, go for a walk in nature.
  36. Recovery is the greatest gift I have ever given myself.
  37. Recovery is the greatest gift I have ever given to my family.
  38. If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten. ~Tony Robbins

Thanks to my friends and family, especially my wife Lori, for getting me to this day…Nothing great in life happens by doing it alone.

John 8:32, “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”…Amen, and Thank You, Jesus!

P.E.A.C.E.

Jay@EagleLaunch.com

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