Blazing Saddles (1974) Gene Wilder

What a great film, so funny and I can't believe it's that old

So, I really wanted to write something this morning and put it out there. This is going to potentially sound controversial to people in early recovery like me but it's based around the quote

Abstinence without recovery is gambling.

I need to put a caveat down that I'm not telling anyone what they should or shouldn't do and these are just my own opinions based on my first five months and change in recovery

We all reach recovery through a different set of circumstances. There are those they are broken mentally, those broken physically, those broken emotionally, those broken financially or any combination. Many are pushed into recovery through intervention. I went to GA 33 years ago through intervention but only went once, gambled before the meeting and gambled after so had no interest. I'm sure everyone would agree that even if you are forced into recovery kicking and screaming, there can still be a turning point where someone finally gets it.

So this is about bums on seats, hence the film title. I'm not being judgemental but I've been to around 250 GA meetings in person and online,.Gamfam meetings, Evive meetings and others. There are people in those meetings that have abstinence but are they happy or are they just turning up and are still suffering. 

I thought recovery was well about not gambling. If that were true, when all the people in my life said "why can't you just stop" then I would have done. Recovery is all about taking part, being open, being honest, connecting and then learning to live a good life with good thoughts and actions. To appreciate life on life's terms which requires daily effort and reflection. Once I started to do this then I not only learned to be happy for the first time in 44 years but I simply didn't want to gamble. Every day I practice this then I am a free. 

Would love to hear the thoughts from anyone on this site about abstinence Vs recovery if that's a fair statement to make