Keep it Simple!

This is an expression you hear in the program at nearly every AA meeting keep it simple. So what does it mean? How can a person who has created so much wreckage in her life and the lives of those she loves begin to fathom keeping it simple?


I received an email from a sober sister who understands how difficult the journey of recovery can be. However, she ended her short but inspiring email by stating " ...but it can be simple!" There again appears the word simple. Dictionary.com describes simple as: "easy to understand, deal with, use, etc.: a simple matter; simple tools."


What a simple definition for such a seemingly complicated and loaded word. It works, I know it does, I have been privilege to dozens of AA members receiving their 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 year sobriety chips. As I ponder how they have made it, it dawned on me, these sober people before me have packaged their lives, without first intoxicating their mind, body and soul with alcohol, into 24-hour segments, wherein they used the tools the program to the best of his/her ability. Simple stated, they did it by not drinking one day at a time.


So why did I struggle for so long to keep it simple? Because I confused simple with easy. These ideas are not synonymous in fact they are oxymoron's. Getting and staying sober doesn't come without work and effort. Keep it simple has to do with the emotional and spiritual part of the program. The action part requires a great deal of work and dedication. Like anything in life it works if you work it. Today, I am going to keep it simple and thank God for another day of sobriety.



Whether you are an addict or not, how do you keep it simple on a day-to-day basis?