"Be where you say you will be, do what you say you will do".
The other day a long time sober friend of mine said this is the criteria in which his wife measures his level of recovery.
I have been thinking about this often and it has helped me understand why I try to make it a point of making sure I can meet the commitments I make.
I may (and usually do) tell people things like, "I need to check my calendar first, or "I need to give you a call back", etc. Once I say yes I make it a priority to do what I said Ill do. I write down the date and time on my notes and in my calendar. If an emergency comes up and I cant make it- I call immediately to let the person know.
Why all this focus on accountability and respect for others? Because in my drinking days I had little of any of this. I would say things like "no problem Ill be there."-and then not show up or call. "No problem I can do that for you"- and have no capability or resources to do it. Just a bunch of empty yes's.
I don't want to live like that any more.
How are you with making commitments and keeping them?
I am doing all I can to keep my commitments. My word has become very important to me in my recovery. I've seen a change in people's reaction to me actually doing what I'll say I'm going to do. This has not always been the case--lol. I do have to guard against overcommitting though. my inclination is to say yes immediately because I finally want to put others before myself. The danger is that I was starting to lose myself and neglecting the things that I want and have to do for myself. Once again, those addict patterns began to sneak back in. I've recently been working very hard on balance in my life'
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