Sobriety Tip #233 - Surround Yourself With Positive People!

     This may sound like a no-brainer, but surrounding yourself with positive people is a must if you are going to be successful in your sobriety.  The power of positive and negative is real.  Constantly being around one or the other will be a difference maker in your recovery efforts.

     One of the many changes I made in my recovery was the people I associate with.  I am consistently around people who are positively motivated and who speak with  positive words.  It may sound a bit extreme, but I'm not around a lot of people who curse with every other word.  I avoid people who are always complaining or criticizing others and I don't entertain crude conversation.  This alone has improved my thought process and contributed to my two years of sobriety and me being happy overall.

     When working on sobriety, YOU come first.  Take care of your state of mind and stay positive!

Is Money What You Really Need?

     Did I ever tell you the story about the time a gentleman asked me for fifty cents?  Well, if I didn't, here goes.  I was walking from a class one day, that was located in a bad part of town, when a homeless looking gentleman asked me if I could spare fifty cents.  I was sad to tell him that I didn't have any money on me, but if I did, I would've have surely given it to him.  He thanked me anyways and continued walking.  I cut across the street, and continued to walk to my bus stop, but I kept hearing the words from Dr. Creflo Dollar saying that we can't claim to be blessed if we can't bless anyone.  It was at that point that I remembered that I had several five dollar money orders in my bag that were blank so I crossed back, against traffic, and ran to catch that gentleman who asked me for the fifty cents.  When I approached him I said, "I don't have any money, but I do have a blank money order for five dollars if you think that would help."  He accepted it, said thank you, and then said, "Hey, I know you've got another money order you can spare!"

     Now, this whole event started with him asking for fifty cents.  I gave him five dollars which was a five hundred percent increase of what he originally asked for.  When he asked me for another five, I politely told him I couldn't spare it, but he continued to badger me, so I declined and walked away.  As you can imagine, I walked away shaking my head in disbelief of what had just happened.  That dude had some nerve to ask for more after I gave him more than he originally asked for.

     Anyways, I've noticed that a lot of people have that same "take all you can get!" mentality.  It's sad because they don't realize there is more happiness in giving than in receiving.

     I've had a few situations like this occur, with the most recent from a lady who questioned my Christianity because I didn't give her money in a timely manner.  This woman claimed to need help because she only had a few dollars on her credit cards(red flag), and her vehicle was old and high maintenance(red flag) and she didn't have much food to eat.  She said if I wanted to help I could put money on her PayPal account(red flag).

     There are a lot of red flags in this situation.  For one, I've helped many people, with thousands of dollars, yet I have never met a person who had a PayPal account, credit cards and a vehicle, that needed help.  I'm sure there are plenty of people who want help but what they need is some counseling.  I've noticed many, many people living outside of their means.  You have got to prioritize what is important.  You can't buy an eight dollar pack of cigarettes, every day, but have no food in your refrigerator.  You can't make car payments on an eighty thousand dollar truck and live in an apartment receiving food stamps.  Prioritize!  Stop having a "me" attitude and quit being self-centered.  Think about others!  Look outside of yourself and you will find happiness!