“Moping melancholy mad” (A. E. Housman, Terence This is Stupid Stuff)
This describes my perma-state when I was newly sober. The madness took many forms including manic excitement.
“We have found nothing incompatible between a powerful spiritual experience and a life of sane and happy usefulness.” (Chapter 9, Big Book)
The opposites:
- Rather than moping listlessly, I can get on with constructive action: Usefulness
- Rather than dwelling on the sad or the gloomy, I can adopt a cheerful, optimistic disposition: Happiness
- Rather than denying or fleeing reality, I can deal with it head on, and dial back the extremes: Sanity
... are three of the greatest gifts of the programme.