Gradually, I surrendered to his advice and demands because I began to want what he had, and I did not want to go back to that hell of depression and despair that I was leaving behind. I had bad moments, bad weeks, and periods of depression but they grew less frequent and less intense with time. Gradually he and the program pulled me along to a point where I began to appreciate all that I had been given.
AA and my sponsor helped me see, understand, accept, and surrender to that the fact that the most important thing in my life was recovery from alcoholism. And this new vision allowed me to find the real gem, the really big gift: some sobriety.