12 step programs are practiced just one day at a time.
Many members share that it is sometimes even an hour at a time, or a minute at a time.
- The past is history.
- If we can stay sober for just one day, then there is a very good chance that we'll still be sober when tomorrow arrives.
- The future is a mystery.
The essence is in maintaining our sanity in the current moment, as each challenge arises.
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
There are two days on every week about which we should not worry. Two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension.
One of these days is yesterday, with all its mistakes and cares, faults and blunders. Yesterday is passed, forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed, we cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday has gone.
The other day we should not worry about is tomorrow with all its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promises, and poor performances. Tomorrow's sun will rise in splendor, or behind a mask of cloud, but it will rise. Until it does we have no stake in tomorrow, for it is yet unborn.
That leaves only one day, TODAY. Any person can fight the battles of one day.
It is only when you add the burdens of those two awful eternities, yesterday and tomorrow, that we break down. It's not the experience of today that drives people mad, it is remorse or bitterness for something that happened yesterday, or the dread of what might happen tomorrow.
Let us journey together, but ONE DAY AT A TIME.
One Day at A Time
ODAT and ODAAT are acronyms sometimes used for the practice if living life just one day at a time.