Race Toward Gratitude

[dryer]

I was looking at day 79 today so this December is my superbowl for reaching 100 days and ending this year with a new approach, new thinking, new beliefs and habits. This month is filled with eating drinking and spending money. So today on Thanksgiving I am challenging myself to the following:

To be brave and not fear being amongst partiers.
To be thankful that everyone has a choice and do not judge.
To know I will have thoughts of drinking, it is normal and OK.
To put every effort toward recognizing the thought and then accepting it.
I will not use substitutes and will not put on any weight in December.
I will reach out more for instance I will give to every Salvation Army in front ofthe stores and thank them for their time.

My race is toward gratitude. Thankful for the benefits of AF and knowing if I am struggling with an old thought, it means I am changing and growing.

Everyday I move away from deprivation, guilt and plain doing what is not benefitting my health and soul.

I only do what benefits me and others.

This is a Thanksgiving I remember!!!!!!!!!! First one in many years.

So stop by and say hello and good will towards ya'll

Russell

[dryer]

Race Toward Gratitude

j-vo;1591700 wrote: This is great post by WIP, who left MWO years ago. I remember her posts, as they were filled with inspiration and wisdom. Just like I was last night, in "deprivation" mode, we need to hopefully get past that and move into "gratitude" mode. If we don't get past that, we will probably relapse. Who can really live in deprivation long term? None of us. We need to grow beyond that to experience long-term sobriety. Thanks WIP.

This is something I wrote and originally posted elsewhere; I thought it might fit into the "tool box" nicely:

Do You "Deserve" a Drink, Today?

I can't count the number of times I have seen someone come here and write a post in which s/he says that s/he has relapsed, or "slipped," because s/he had been doing well for a while, and decided that s/he "deserved" a drink.

And our alcoholic thinking does this to us. It totally bypasses the memory of the devastation, humiliation, and destruction that alcohol has brought into our lives, and it presents alcohol as a GOOD thing, a prize, a reward, something we want to give ourselves for a job well done.

I wrote a post a few days ago, about this way of thinking, but it was kind of buried in another thread. And I saw people talking about "deserving a drink," again today. What I wrote about was about changing our way of thinking from this self-destructive "Deprivation Mode" to a winning, successful, positive "Gratitude Mode." Here it is:

I don't think we can begin to truly grow into a successful, lifetime, AF plan until we have managed to make the shift in our thinking from the "Deprivation Mode" to the "Gratitude Mode."

In Deprivation Mode, we think alcohol is a good thing that we are being deprived of. We are sad, and grieve the loss of what had felt like a friend to us. We consider it a treat that we never get to give ourselves again. We are envious of others who "get to drink."

In Gratitude Mode, we recognize that alcohol is (for us, because of our brain structure, genetics, physiology, etc.) a toxin, a poison, something that nearly destroyed us. Mentally, physically, and spiritually. We recognize that we have the most amazing opportunity to rid ourselves of something that makes us very sick in all those ways. We recognize the craziness of voluntarily damaging our brains, minds, bodies, families, jobs, futures. We are really, really grateful for that opportunity, and we guard it and cultivate it carefully.

Most of us start a recovery program in deprivation mode. Some people stay there forever. Those people tend not to be able to create a consistently successful program, or life, of freedom from alcohol and its devastation. Some of us transition into gratitude mode.

For most of us, Gratitude Mode does not just happen all by itself. We have to make it happen. If we want to shift into gratitude mode, we learn to cultivate it. We cultivate it by being careful about our thoughts, and about what we notice. If we find ourselves thinking about how wonderful it would be to have a drink, we deliberately shift attention away from this train of thought, and we deliberately choose to think about how good it is to know we will never humiliate ourselves with alcohol again, never again have another horrible hangover, never disappoint our children again with the way we are when we get drunk. We notice alcohol advertising, pay attention to how it makes us feel, and detach from the message by noticing how distorted the message is.

That kind of thing is crucial. We literally can BUILD a new way of thinking and feeling about things. And I think that's something to be grateful for, in itself!

wip

This great post started me and helped me and inspires me toward being humble and thankful. My race toward gratitude.Thanks WIP and J-Vo

[NoraC]

Race Toward Gratitude

Thank you - wonderful thread!

[Guitarista]

Race Toward Gratitude

Gidday Russell!

Just stopping by to say hello. Great stuff friend. Hope Thanksgiving was a nice one for you and yours.

Keep rockin' buddy.

G bloke.

[Byrdlady]

Race Toward Gratitude

Thank you for this. It is a good time to stop and reflect. We are lucky in so many ways. Keep up the great work!! byrdie

[lifechange]

Race Toward Gratitude

What a super post, Dryer! You're doing a great job in the race toward gratitude. That's what it's all about, isn't it? Changing our old ways of thinking and doing. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday. And today must be Day 80, right? Well done...

[Dottie Belle]

Race Toward Gratitude

Great post!!!!!

[A Better Me]

Race Toward Gratitude

I love what WIP wrote there, thanks for reminding me of this Dryer. And I hop you had a lovely Thanksgiving.

[Sunbeam]

Race Toward Gratitude

Great perspective. You can best appreciate the freedom from alcohol after some time has passed.

[dryer]

Race Toward Gratitude

Thanks, I bet you guys all remember your turkey day. What a concept- remembering.

We just don't recognize how destructive we are being on a daily basis until years gone by. Alcohol just takes and takes. Thanks alot.

Funny how I can talk to alcohol like it is a friend or relate to it like my dog Zuzu. Spending hours with it and not having to say a word. I think of my past dogs and how they are only blurry pictures with little clear stories and history. Thus, the other parts of the past are blurry too.

So thanks a lot my little friend, with a sarcastic jab it is time to say GOODBYE and hope you rot in hell.

[Pavati]

Race Toward Gratitude

Thanks for this thread and your post. I will think about being grateful all day. I needed that.