Sober Life

Sober Life Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Sober Life, Santa Rosa Beach, FL.

06/03/2026

June 3

When I have listened to my mistakes, I have grown.
-Hugh Prather

Everyone makes mistakes. We all know that. So why is it so hard to admit out own? We seem to think we have to be prefect. We have a hard time looking at our mistakes. But our mistakes can be very good teachers. Our Twelve Step program helps us learn and grow from our mistakes. In Step Four, half of our work is to think of our mistakes. In step Five, we admit our mistakes to God, ourselves, and another person. We learn, we grow and become whole. All by coming to know our mistakes The gift of recovery is not being free from mistakes. Instead, we do the Steps to claim our mistakes and talk about them. We find the gift of recovery when we learn from our mistakes.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me to see my mistakes as changes to get to know myself better.

Action for the Day: Today I’ll talk to a friend about what my mistakes taught me. Today I’ll feel less shame.

06/02/2026

June 02

Humility
"True humility is the willingness to seek and do God's will with our best effort." BRB p. 223

In ACA, we move from wanting and being willing to actually finding the passion that begins our journey into recovery. We look for that passion because without it we merely talk recovery, we do not live it.

We look past our desire to heal ourselves and we develop the humility needed to seek our Higher Power's will for us. With that humility, we surrender ourselves to the spiritual seed that's blossoming inside of us. We move toward that essence, and the closer we get, the more in touch we are with our own spiritual being. We begin to live in the present.

And in that now, we see the world differently. We notice the spiritual essence in others and the beauty around us. We begin to feel the peace. We begin to shed our past, including the person we thought we were, and we are at peace with the stillness. Further down the path, we realize that the stillness is our Higher Power working inside us.

On this day I seek the humility needed to accept my Higher Power's will, knowing that it is the basis for my journey to recovery. The miracle of ACA has begun.

Copyright © 2013 by Adult Children of Alcoholics® & Dysfunctional Families

06/01/2026

June 01

True Self
"We begin to see that we can bring our True Selves to a relationship. We have something to offer that is different than unhealthy dependence. This is what ACA recovery looks like." BRB p. 265

Discovering our True Selves - what a journey! When we look back at our first ACA meeting, we thank our Higher Power for getting us here. Maybe we hoped for a quick fix to stop the insanity and to have a better life, or a miracle answer about how to fix other people. But that's not exactly how things turned out.

As we keep coming back, we find that working the Steps is not always easy, nor is it pretty. But the key to freedom is courage, vulnerability, and the willingness to shed our tears while we follow this quest. We work with a sponsor or fellow traveler who has walked this walk before. We discover our ineffective behavior patterns and become willing to change. We don't get stuck on blaming our parents and the generations before them.

Slowly, the ACA Promises come true. As we work our program, we develop those characteristics and learn to breathe and love life. We play again. We become healthier and have healthier relationships with ourselves, our families, our friends and community. We become sponsors and help others through the swamps, gently and tenderly, the way we were shown. With the help of our Higher Power, we discover we had the "ruby slippers" all along!

On this day I continue to do the work that helps me discover more aspects of my healthy True Self.

Copyright © 2013 by Adult Children of Alcoholics® & Dysfunctional Families

05/31/2026

May 31

You grow up the day you have your first real laugh at yourself.
—Ethel Barrymore

There was a time when we wouldn’t let anyone laugh at us—even ourselves. We had to much shame. We had to much pain. We took the world too seriously. If we laughed it was at others—not at ourselves. Over time , real honest laughter returns to us. Laughter is a way of accepting ourselves as human. To be human means we can make mistakes. It means we can lighten up. It also means growing up. And growing up means being happy with all of who we are—even parts of us that may seem odd or funny. If we can’t laugh at ourselves, we shut ourselves off from the world. We shut ourselves off from the parts of us we need to accept. Am I willing to accept the fact that I’m human.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, You made laughter. Help me us it to make my life easier. Help me accept all of me a funny mistake I’ve made.

Action for the Day: Today, I’ll share with someone close to me a funny mistake I’ve made.

05/30/2026

May 30
Commitment

As we walk through life, there are many things and people we may lose, or lose out on, if we are unwilling to commit. We need to make a commitment for relationships to grow beyond the dating stage, to have the home or apartment we want, the job we want, or the car we desire.

We must commit, on deep levels, to careers, to goals, to family, friends, and recovery. Trying something will not enable us to succeed. Committing ourselves will.

Yet, we need never commit before we are ready.

Sometimes, our fear of commitment is telling us something. We may not want to commit to a particular relationship, purchase, or career. Other times, it is a matter of our fears working their way out. Wait, then. Wait until the issue becomes clear.

Trust yourself. Ask your Higher Power to remove your fear of commitment. Ask God to remove your blocks to commitment. Ask God for guidance.

Ask yourself if you are willing to lose what you will not commit too. Then listen, quietly. And wait until a decision seems consistently right and comfortable.

We need to be able to commit, but we need never commit until we are ready. Trust that you will commit when you want to.

God, guide me in making my commitments. Give me the courage to make those that are right for me, the wisdom to not commit to that which does not feel right, and the patience to wait until I know.

05/29/2026

May 29

Awakening Spirit
"In ACA we carry the awakening of the spirit down to the deepest level where the Inner Child is paralyzed by fear." BRB p. 360

When we attended our first ACA meeting, the Twelve Step language may have intimidated us. What the heck were these people talking about? Was this part of some cult? Was it safe to keep coming here? Could these people really be happy, even with all their problems?

As we kept coming back, we learned to explore recovery slowly and start to become an inner loving parent to those wounded parts of ourselves that hurt for longer than long. We found the pain and the shame that was deep within us. But we also found that beneath those things lay a wellspring of life, the energy to carry us through anything and everything. We discovered a path inside ourselves, a path that could lead us home should we have the courage to follow it. We no longer had to do it alone.

On this day I have faith that by consoling my Inner Child, I also get closer to my Higher Power.

Copyright © 2013 by Adult Children of Alcoholics® & Dysfunctional Families

05/28/2026

May 28
Everyday risks
Courage
We have to take certain risks if we hope to achieve anything. Applying for a job entail a risk of reject. Saving money carries a risk of losing it. Falling in love can result in heartbreak.
We have to take such risks because life is ordered that way. We are hear to learn, and learning includes pressing into unknown situations where we could fail.
God could have created us in such a way we could either avoid risks or not unduly concerned about the. Animals, for example, live with risks but do no seem to worry about them.
We must accept risk as part of God’s plan for us. We also are given tools for working with uncertainties. We have our innate intelligence and a capacity for prudent, reasoned action. We have friends who will help us. Above all, we have our Higher Power, who guides and directs us through all sorts of risky conditions.
I cannot face life without also facing uncertainties. Today I’ll accept risk as a part of ordinary living.

05/27/2026

May 27

Self-Forgiveness
"Self-forgiveness is an elusive concept for adult children. We ask that the adult child keep an open mind and consider that God has already forgiven the person." BRB p. 113

Forgiving others was tough enough, but for some of us, forgiving ourselves seemed a monumental task. We carried the shame and guilt passed down from generation to generation, from one hurt person to the next in a chain for maybe hundreds of years. We may have found that we needed to act compulsively to stay numb to the pain: maybe we chose drugs, alcohol, food, gambling, approval, cutting, video games, power, rules, or spending. We lived in fear because deep down we thought we were unlovable.

In ACA, we learn that we can have a relationship with a healing Higher Power that we can define in any way we want. If our families were abusive and perfectionistic, we no longer bow down to them. We reject the feelings of despair and hopelessness because they no longer belong to us.

As we begin to forgive ourselves for real or imagined wrongs, we become ready to reparent our Inner Child. In doing so, we make room for a new outlook, one that allows us to believe that part of us is already whole and sane, already with our Higher Power, and already forgiven. As we continue to heal, we will come to understand that we were forgiven all along.

On this day I will hold my head high and act as if I am forgiven, even if I don't yet fully believe it.

Copyright © 2013 by Adult Children of Alcoholics® & Dysfunctional Families

05/26/2026

May 26
Gossip

Intimacy is that warm gift of feeling connected to others and enjoying our connection to them.

As we grow in recovery, we find that gift in many, sometimes surprising, places. We may discover we’ve developed intimate relationships with people at work, with friends, with people in our support groups – sometimes with family members. Many of us are discovering intimacy in a special love relationship.

Intimacy is not s*x, although s*x can be intimate. Intimacy means mutually honest, warm, caring, safe relationships – relationships where the other person can be who he or she is and we can be who we are – and both people are valued.

Sometimes there are conflicts. Conflict is inevitable. Sometimes there are troublesome feelings to work through. Sometimes the boundaries or parameters of relationships change. But there is a bond – one of love and trust.

There are many blocks to intimacy and intimate relationships. Addictions and abuse block intimacy. Unresolved family of origin issues prevents intimacy. Controlling blocks intimacy. Off balance relationships, where there is too great a discrepancy in power, prevent intimacy. Caretaking can block intimacy. Nagging, withdrawing, and shutting down can hurt intimacy. So can a simple behavior like gossip — for example, gossiping about another for motives of diminishing him or her in order to build up ourselves or to judge the person. To discuss another person’s issues, shortcomings, or failures with someone else will have a predictable negative impact on the relationship.

We deserve to enjoy intimacy in as many of our relationships as possible. We deserve relationships that have not been sabotaged. That does not mean we walk around with our heads in the clouds; it means we strive to keep our motives clean when it comes to discussing other people.

If we have a serious issue with someone, the best way to resolve it is to bring the issue to that person.

Direct, clean conversation clears the air and paves the way for intimacy, for good feelings about ourselves and our relationships with others.

Today, God, help me let go of my fear of intimacy. Help me strive to keep my communications with others clean and free from malicious gossip. Help me work toward intimacy in my relationships. Help me deal as directly as possible with my feelings.

05/25/2026

Happy Memorial Day 🇺🇸 for those who served for us to have Freedom♥️🤍💙

May 25

One is happy as a result of one’s own efforts, once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness – simple tastes, a certain degree of courage, self-denial to a point, love of work, and above all, a clear conscience. Happiness is no vague dream, of that I now feel certain.
—George Sand

We are as happy as we make up our minds to be, so goes the saying. But happiness is the result of right actions. We prepare for it daily. We chart our course. Many of us have to first determine where we want to go before we can decide on the chart. We have perhaps passively floated along for years. But now the time is right to navigate, to move toward a goal.

We may have fears about moving ahead. We can be courageous, however. Strength is at hand, always, if we but ask for it. We can make a small beginning today. And every day, we can do at least one thing we need to do to bring us closer to our goal. Accomplishment, however small, nurtures good feelings. Happiness is the byproduct.

Today is wide open. I will decide on a course of action and move ahead. All around me help is available for the asking.

Address

Santa Rosa Beach, FL
32459

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Sober Life posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share