I woke up this morning to my phone alarm blaring. I was in a bit of a fog. I knew the alarm meant “get up”, but I had no recollection of setting it.

My mind spun like the reels of an old fashioned slot machine, then one by one the reels stopped and I remembered. It’s “Manual Labor Day.” Almost every year for the past 5 years I’ve gone to a friend’s house to help with some sort of project that requires hard work. Is this how I really want to spend my holiday morning?

The answer is yes! As much as I dislike waking up early. As much as I hurt after I do manual labor. As much as I’d love to still be asleep, this was my idea! You read that right, I volunteered.

It’s all about the 12th Step and giving back. My recovery works best when I work the steps. This is my way of doing that. So now I’m up and fixing to go grab my shovel do move dirt for a few hours. In order to give back, sometimes you gotta set an alarm and…

(you guessed it)

—Rise Up!!