Giving Time - Time

EVERYTHING changes with time. That is not just because time heals - nor because we forget, or change our minds. Time changes as time advances.

My son was a schoolboy when I stopped drinking. At that time, my sobriety then was just a small part of his lifetime. Those days became weeks, then months, then years. Each and every one of them a single day, stacking up one after the other, one day at a time. It’s like watching grass grow; you don’t notice until you look away then look back again - after a period of time.

When I drive, the road ahead is clear. But the view in the rear-view mirror gives a different perspective. It took me twelve months - 365 days - of sobriety to grasp the idea of, ‘give time, time.’ To me it meant: live life one day at a time. In time, one day becomes a life. That is not ‘life’ in terms of a prison sentence. My jail term was when I was drinking. I was imprisoned by a daily regime of drink - thinking about it, obtaining it, consuming it, getting rid of the empties, coming to, passing out. Ironically, at that time I was living life one day at a time. I couldn’t remember yesterday and didn’t give a flying flamingo about tomorrow.

With time, everything has changed. My son is now well into his 30s, and I have been sober - one day at a time - for half his lifetime.

JEFF B, Warwickshire