As stated in my opening, “Rust Never Sleeps” this poem came as a result of a sever hangover and with years of the tugging-battle, “Just three beers, hold it to a six pack, just nine…” and failure after failure I knew I was out of control. In my own case I would get drunk once a week, maybe it was once every two weeks, but I had no ultimate control of my drinking and my addictive behaviors. To not go to the depths of the car I loved and totaled, the cars I damaged. or most importantly the risk I put on myself and others was driving myself into the ground.
There were many turning points along the way, but one that had a great impact on me came in a book entitled, “Courage to Change” by Dennis Wholey. In that book was a recovering testimony through alcoholic, Grace Slick, the lead singer of the Jefferson Airplane, later to be Jefferson Starship. She simple and profoundly stated, “If you think you have a problem, you probably do.” That was a light switch that remains to this day and whether it is with my daily sobriety or behaviors that need personal or relational reflection and change… “Problem. What are you going to do about it?” remains. Through the grace of the Lord and through my own step-by-step work, and often with help from others that love me, continue Living. As with Grace Slick’s quote and revelation, welcome to the bottom of the bucket for Steven Mitchell in January of 1986:
Rust Never Sleeps 