Letting Go and Holding Tight - Letting Go and Holding Tight

Choosing a Name

When the name for this blog , Letting Go and Holding Tight, first came to me, we were living in Dallas – having moved there for family business. I was far away from our familiar support networks: meetings, friends and family. Not to mention the familiar places, and routines that kept me anchored.

I had had to let go of how we did things in Maryland meetings, and embrace new friends, develop new habits, and be open to experiences and program perspectives. We really are many and varied!

When we moved back to Maryland, I found out things had changed here, too. It wasn’t the same old same old. Letting go of the people places and things in Texas I came to love, I learned again to hold tight to principles that never changed – don’t drink, pray and get thyself to a meeting.

And I learned the unique gifts old and new program friends can be.

The Name Still Works

Almost a year into the isolating reality of a pandemic, I have to say I am still learning to let go of a few things I thought I could never part with, and embrace a few new ways in recovery I didn’t think I could.

Loneliness and isolation are real problems; reaching out, especially when I don’t feel like it, is how I “get to a meeting.” And I can always get to a meeting. (AA.org)

In some ways, stuck at home, I can hear so many memories that whisper: More will be revealed.

And I say to myself, whatever is revealed, self:

let go of disappointment, and
hold tight to the hope my Higher Power who won’t be surprised.

. . .Today my choice is God. He is everything. For this I am truly grateful. When I think I am running the show I am blocking God from my life. I pray I can remember this when I allow myself to get caught up into self. . .
From the book Daily Reflections
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.

These times make it oh so easy to get caught up in myself. So, I grateful for friends who post stuff that makes me think of better things than myself: