Negative Past, Positive Present: Connect the Dots

We used to send cassette tapes back and forth to family before the birth of cell phones and free long-distance phone calls. I am converting those tapes to digital on my laptop so that our voices from the past can last forever. Cassette tapes deteriorate over time. I'm hearing myself gripe about things that don't matter anymore and that really didn't matter then, either.

That shows me what I used to be like before alcohol took over my life. I think I'm a better person now than I was then as a pre-alcoholic, sober man. Even turning alcoholic can have a purpose in our lives. That's why I'm reading Everything Happens for a Reason, by Mira Kirshenbaum. (https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/385817-everything-happens-for-a-reason-finding-the-true-meaning-of-the-events)

"All you need to do is look at what you've got in your life right now that means the most to you. Connect the dots. There's some really tough event that happened a while back.... You know you were needing to become stronger in some way.... There's this wonderful thing in your life right now, even if it's just a possibility. Okay, then. Bad event...becoming stronger...wonderful life right now. Just connect the dots.

"The bad event gave you the strength you need in your foundation to make possible what's wonderful in your life right now."

Alcoholism was an awful milestone in my life. But "everything happens for a reason." Thank you, God, for the strength to turn my life around.