"Today you have been sober longer than I have"

"After an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting once, a woman said to John, a fellow member, in admiration, 'It must be wonderful to be sober so long.'

John smiled and said to her, 'You have been sober longer than I have, Elizabeth.'

'How can you say that?' Elizabeth said. 'I've only been sober two years, and you've been sober for nearly forty years.'

'What time did you get up today?' John asked. She responded 'Well, I have to be at work at seven, so I got up at five thirty.'

'I didn't get up today until eight, so today you have been sober longer than I have,' John said.

When addicts and codependents fully grasp the one-day-at-a-time concept, they have begun their recovery."

- Abraham J. Twerski, Addictive Thinking: Understanding Self-Deception