Sometimes we look into the future and we get overwhelmed. We tried so many times to stop and the odds are against us. We get filled with self-doubt and lose our confidence to succeed. Many times we think: “what’s the point of getting through this day? In any case tomorrow I will probably fall, and if not tomorrow then the next day. Why should I bother to try?”

At PA we learn to live “one day at a time.” We try not to focus on the future or wonder how we will manage or stay clean tomorrow. We learn to limit our sight to the present day.

When we focus on the future, we can easily fall. It’s like someone walking a tightrope; if he looks down, it becomes so much harder not to fall. Therefore, when we are triggered we can tell ourselves, “just for today, I will stay clean.” The past and the future are out of our hands and belong only to God.

Did you notice that God didn’t create the world with a continuous day that lasts forever? God could have created time as an endless day, but He didn’t. He divided time into separate days of 24 hours each – with a day and a night. This way we can deal with what we have in front of us each day, and leave our worries about the future – for tomorrow. Have you felt at times the relief after a rough day that the day is over and that tomorrow will be a new day? It’s really a blessing.

It doesn’t mean that we fool ourselves and we forget that the future exists. All it means is that we focus only on the day that is in front of us.

It’s a “trick”, that we usually use when we have a fall. What do we tell ourselves when we decide to act-out? “Just today; today will be the last time, and tomorrow I’ll stop for good”. In other words, we tell ourselves “I will fall just today”.

But now we learn to use the same approach to stay clean. When we focus on “one day at a time” we tell ourselves the opposite: “I will stay clean just for today”.

When we make a commitment to ourselves to stay clean just for today, it doesn’t mean that tomorrow we will fall. It means that today we will do everything we can not to fall, but we will leave tomorrow’s challenge for tomorrow.

We don’t mean “I will do my best today, but tomorrow I will fall”. Rather we mean “I will do my best today, and tomorrow we’ll see what happens.”

“One day at a time” makes the challenge much less overwhelming. It’s a healthier and more balanced approach that can motivate us to use the tools of the program, and to avoid sabotaging the present because of our fear of the future.

So just for today – why don’t you join us and come to a meeting?