A hot candidate for the Metaphor Hall of Fame?
The topic at the AA meeting was “One day at a time.” Perhaps the most familiar of the AA slogans. Very helpful when you’re first getting sober and your life’s a train wreck and not drinking seems the equivalent of mud wrestling King Kong. Over time though it becomes more a reminder to live in the present.
A fellow from New York City who said he was visiting Vermont briefly to see an old friend and do some writing told this story:
“I hiked up Hunger Mountain today. Coming from Manhattan, this was beyond beautiful in every way: the land, the light, the air, the solitude. And yet I found myself hounded by the same inner voices of worry and responsibility I hear every other day when I’m in the city. I just couldn’t shake the nonsense and stay present. In a kind of desperation, not knowing what else to do, I took off my boots and socks and climbed barefoot. I paid attention to every step like never before.”
I thought, Jeepers. That’s the story of my life. Maybe the lives of us all, recovering drunks or not.
Climb the inner mountain our heart most hungers to scale. But of course to do so demands we do whatever we must to pay exquisite attention to every step.
Climbing Hunger Mountain Barefoot. That’s gotta make it into the Metaphor Hall of Fame. After all, God wears the t-shirt.
I want that t-shirt! Perfect! Thank you.