I have been contemplating the beauty of sunsets and sunrises recently. They are not like the light switches in my home that, when flipped, immediately plunge a room into darkness or flood it with light. Rather, sunsets and sunrises are gradual, slowly turning from daylight to darkness and vice versa.
I realized my life has been like a rotation of the earth. I was born a bright, sunny, innocent, little being. As life progressed, I was gradually overwhelmed by darkness, learning and exercising the necessary skills to cope with the disease of alcoholism until my life felt like midnight.
Coming to Al‑Anon has given me tools to gradually bring the sunlight back into my life, should I choose to use them. With my Higher Power’s help, I must exercise the patience to sort through my misperceptions and maladaptive skill sets so that I may stand fully in the sunlight of the Spirit. Recovery has not been like that light switch on my wall but rather like a sunrise—a slow and steady dawning of the light. Because I choose daylight, I will “Keep Coming Back.”
By Martie B.
The Forum. July 2025
Feel free to reprint this article on your service arm website or newsletter, along with this credit line: Reprinted with permission of The Forum, Al‑Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA.
Hello! Thank you for this powerful expression of your path to finding meaning, purpose, and direction. I am the mom of an adult son who is right at the point of choosing life (help) or his demise (continued drinking). He is trying to do it on his own, with medication from his Dr. Problem is, he is looping – being sober for a time and then plunging back into drink. He is divorced and now facing loss of custody of his only child (the one person who “gives my life meaning”) Help! What’s next?
I needed this today. Thank you