Closing out Recovery Month

Some of the best things I've heard at 12-step meetings, besides the steps

As we reach the end of September, I’ve learned it’s National Recovery Month. It’s also National Suicide Awareness Month, Falls Prevention Month, and Mullets For Mental Health Month. To paraphrase Orson Welles in Citizen Kane - You buy a bag of peanuts in this town, they give you a month.

Besides, those of us in recovery know that Recovery month is every month or we’re in trouble.

I’m going to close September by sharing some of the best things I’ve heard over the years in 12-step meetings, and I encourage those of you who attend to share some of yours in the comments.

• “I’m not much, but I’m all I think about.”

• “Just because I can doesn’t mean I should, and just because I want to doesn’t mean I must.”

• “Never pass up an opportunity to shut up.”

• “‘We figured it all out’ is not one of the 12 Steps.”

• “As soon as you get home, kick your shoes under the bed. That way, before you go out to do something stupid, you’re already on your knees.”

• “I only need to go to one meeting a week. Since I don’t know which one that is, I go to five.”

• “Reading recovery literature is like reading a cookbook. No matter how much you read, if you don’t put in the work, you go hungry.”

• “Lack of participation is loitering with intent to recover.”

• “Just show up.”

I’ll probably think of three or four more shortly after I post this, but I can save those for next September.