I’m not a huge fan of checking in a sobriety date at the start of recovery meetings. I know that sounds crazy, coming from a guy who has checked in his sobriety date at his SA meeting every Thursday for nine years. I’m okay with it, but I’m not a big fan. Let me explain with three words.
The comparison trap.
It’s in our DNA. We compare ourselves to others – our looks, income, job, height, weight, spouse, kids – and recovery.
When I announce that I have been sober for over nine years, and the guy next to me confesses that he has been sober for nine minutes, that gives me a false sense of achievement. It’s okay to compare yourself to one person – yourself. Jordan Peterson said it well: “Don’t compare yourself with other people; compare yourself with who you were yesterday.”
Recovery Step: The Bible says, “You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting” (Daniel 5:27). So escape the comparison trap. Compare yourself to yourself, and no one else.
