Sunrise to Sunset/ODAAT

 Brothers and Sisters in Recovery 🙏

Today I woke up feeling a little depressed. Almost immediately, my mind drifted back to a different time in my life—a time when I was incarcerated and counting the sunrises from behind prison walls.

There was a period during my incarceration when I simply didn't want to keep going. The weight of the years ahead felt unbearable. Every day seemed identical to the one before it. The steel doors, the concrete walls, the constant noise, the loneliness, the regret, and the overwhelming feeling that life was passing me by. It hurt in ways that are difficult to describe to someone who hasn't experienced it. It wasn't just physical confinement; it was emotional, mental, and spiritual confinement as well.

I remember lying awake at night wondering how I would survive another day, let alone another year. The future seemed so far away that it almost felt unreachable. The sentence wasn't measured in months or years—it felt measured in pain, disappointment, and hopelessness.

But every morning, without fail, the sun would rise.

That sunrise became something I could count on. No matter how bad the previous day had been, no matter how broken I felt, the sun came up again. Another day completed. Another day behind me. Another day closer to freedom.

I began to break my time down into manageable pieces. I stopped focusing on years and started focusing on today. Then tomorrow. Then the next sunrise. Little by little, day by day, sunrise by sunrise, I whittled those years down.

What I didn't realize at the time was that I was learning one of recovery's greatest lessons.

Recovery works the same way.

When we're struggling, we often look too far ahead. We worry about next month, next year, or the rest of our lives. We wonder how we'll survive without our old ways of coping. We question whether we have the strength to keep moving forward.

The truth is, we don't have to conquer the rest of our lives today.

We only have to make it through today.

Just as I couldn't serve an entire prison sentence in a single day, I can't live my entire recovery journey in one day either. Recovery is built one sunrise at a time. One decision at a time. One meeting at a time. One phone call at a time. One honest conversation at a time.

Today, when I think about those prison sunrises, I'm reminded that the same God who carried me through those dark years is carrying me through today. The same perseverance that helped me survive incarceration helps me stay clean and sober. The same hope I found in each sunrise is available to me this morning.

If you're struggling today, remember this: you don't have to carry the whole journey on your shoulders. You don't have to solve every problem. You don't have to know what next year looks like.

Just keep moving toward the next sunrise.

No storm lasts forever. No darkness can stop the morning from coming. The sun will rise again, and so will you.

Keep your head up. Keep your faith strong. Keep showing up. Better days are being built by the choices you make today, even if you can't see them yet.

One day at a time.

Easy does it.

Keep coming back.

Progress, not perfection.

Stay in the moment.

This too shall pass.

With love and gratitude,

Gary G