The 24 Hour Coin
The Beginning of the Sober Journey
Everyone who begins the path to recovery from alcoholism begins the journey the same. It starts with the first 24 hours…one day. Therefore the 24 hour coin represents the building block of a life of recovery….one day at a time. The 24 hour coin itself has no special power but it serves as a reminder of where the sober journey began and the simplicity of living one day at a time, one moment at a time and when need be one breath at a time.
Who would have ever thought 24 hours could mean so much? What’s in a day anyway? Ask anyone who has recovered from the alcoholic obsession and they will say “It means EVERYTHING!”. The nay sayers say that Rome wasn’t built in a day but we answer “No! But it was built one day at a time…”. You see, my friend, if we are willing to do something for a day then we are willing to do it for a lifetime. Just for today we shall stay sober.
The Official AA website attributes the start of the tradition to hand out coins at meetings like the 24 hour coin to Indianapolis, Indiana around 1942. Over a period of time as the practice spread various designs were crafted and a network of suppliers began to emerge. Today sites like The Token Shop have made the ordering easy and convenient with fast delivery. It is amazing to consider how such a fellowship like Alcoholics Anonymous could spring up from just two alcoholics talking with one another to become an enormous entity that supports so many people and changes so many lives. But let us not forget that it all began with one drunk who stayed sober for one day. And he didn’t even have a 24 hour coin!
I often wonder if anyone ever got him one when they came out?
Nevertheless, Wendells INC produces a wonderful series that also includes a 24 hour coin called founders tokens. Each coin having an image of the two, Bill W. and Bob S. each on either side of the triangle that represents the three legacies of AA, Unity, Service and Recovery.
As time has progressed there have been as many types of 24 hour coins produced as one could dream of having! They can be bought in aluminum, bronze, bi-plate, tri-plate, gold or silver plated and even gold and silver plated tri-plate coins. You can spend as little as $0.25 or as much as $100.00 on a single coin. I perfer to keep it simple. The $0.25 Wendells 24 hour coin from The Token Shop does everything I need it to do and more. Twelve years and six months sober as of this writing and I have long since began to collect bronze yearly tokens. Yet I always get excited when doing annaversaries at meetings when I ask if anyone is celebrating 24 hours and someone says they are because I know the secret lies behind what the 24 hour coin symbolizes….and that is the willingness to stay sober One Day at a Time!
If your new to recovery and reading this, it is strongly suggested that you attend local AA meetings, get a sponsor and work the program of recovery as outlined in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. You may ask why you need a sponsor. Sponsors are people who, like Bill W and Dr Bob, help guide the process and give clear instructions as to how to stay sober. So I ask why not get one?
Find out more at www.thetokenshop.com