Do You REALLY Want To Be Sober?

[abcowboy]

s-omar-barker-the-cowboys-christmas-prayer.jpg

[abcowboy]

The perfect song for this night, Joyous Christmas Eve everyone!

[mario]

Happy Christmas ABcowboy, hope you & your family have a good happy relaxed time.

[abcowboy]

Merry Christmas everyone! I did something last night that I haven’t done for years, I went to Church! That’s not entirely true, I have been in a Church for weddings and funerals over the past years, but last night I went for Bubba, she wanted me to attend Christmas Mass with her.

Did it “move” me? No. Did it have a “profound effect” on me? No. I don’t need a building, a pastor, reverend, or priest to give thanks to the Lord. I do it every day, just me to Him. When God reached out to me 2 years ago, I knew what the power of faith and prayer could do. It didn’t turn me into a religious person, what it did was prove to me that there is a Higher Power, God. It proved to me that faith can move mountains, that miracles do happen because my sobriety is nothing short of a miracle.

I know there are non-believers and that’s okay. I can’t prove there is a God, and I can’t prove it was God that gave me the strength to quit drinking and continue my commitment to never drink again, and I can’t prove that He can do the same for you. But no one can prove otherwise either.

I get asked a lot why I’m so sure it was God that helped me, and my only answer is that it’s my only answer. I don’t really know why I believe it was God, but I do. I felt Him reach out to me, felt His power touch me. And I don’t try to force others to believe me, but I do tell people to give God a chance.

No matter what you did or the method you used to get sober, the important thing is to be grateful for that. Getting and staying sober is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, and I couldn’t have done it without help. The help from God, Bubba, my family and friends, and all the people I’ve met on these forums. So on this Christmas morning, I want to say thank you, thank you to God. Thank you to Bubba. Thank you to my kids and other family members. And thank you to all of you. I wouldn’t be the man I am today without the help and support of all of you!

[NoraC]

Merry Christmas, cowboy.

[Wine-no!]

Cowboy! I had no idea you had a thread! What a Christmas treat to find it!

I have been a member here for a good few years but despite everything I read on here, I still honestly thought I could moderate - time and time again! Obviously, this lead to me going back to my old habits time and time again!

I also looked at friends and family and convinced myself that I was drinking heavily but so was everyone else.

To cut a long story short, I finally woke up 8 weeks ago and realised that I had to just quit. 100%. Close the door on alcohol.. It led to a much easier mindset. Here I am typing this on Christmas Day - sober!

I really appreciate you visiting my diary with your words of advice and encouragement.

Wishing you a very happy christmas! X

[abcowboy]

And the best part of sobriety YNo is that it just gets better and better as the weeks go by! You've got what it takes to git'er done and you've proved that to yourself by the past 8 weeks!

[lloydlady]

Merry Christmas ABC and pass it along to Bubba please

[starty]

Merry Christmas ABC!

[abcowboy]

Merry Christmas to both of you, LL and Starty!

[abcowboy]

Another Christmas over and back to work for me tomorrow. My second Christmas sober and it was every bit as good as my first one. We were at the in-laws yesterday, ate way too much, but enjoyed all the food anyway. And brought a big box of leftovers back with us!

Driving home last night I got to thinking how far I’ve come on my journey and what it took to get me here. Hard work, determination, faith, hope, love, support, acceptance, and the list goes on. Where any one of those more important than the other? I don’t know, what I do know is that I needed them all at one point or another in my journey.

As I read through threads on this forum, and the other 2 forums I post on, I often am reminded of the “dry drunk syndrome”, but I’m not totally convinced about the actual meaning. I realize that if we aren’t happy about our recovery, we’ll probably relapse. If we can’t honestly accept the fact that we can never drink again, we’ll probably relapse. If we keep thinking about how much we miss drinking, or wish we could drink, we’ll probably relapse. And if we carry anger and resentment about not being able to drink, we’ll probably relapse. So how do we come to terms with this? How do we deal with those issues?

I think that answer will be a bit different for everyone, but the one key factor will be honestly accepting the fact that you can never drink again. Once you’ve accepted that, sobriety makes sense. It is the only way for us, the only way to truly become the person we know we can be. The only way we’ll be able to let go of the anger and resentment that many of us feel in the initial stages of recovery.

And once we get there, the weight of quitting is lifted from our shoulders, and when that happens, we can plan our future with optimism. Knowing we can get through any problems that life throws at us each day. A new year is just around the corner, full of opportunities and surprises. Treat each day as a new page, each month as a new chapter, and be the author of the life you want to live….

[Wilson1]

Another Christmas over and back to work for me tomorrow. My second Christmas sober and it was every bit as good as my first one. We were at the in-laws yesterday, ate way too much, but enjoyed all the food anyway. And brought a big box of leftovers back with us!

Driving home last night I got to thinking how far I’ve come on my journey and what it took to get me here. Hard work, determination, faith, hope, love, support, acceptance, and the list goes on. Where any one of those more important than the other? I don’t know, what I do know is that I needed them all at one point or another in my journey.

As I read through threads on this forum, and the other 2 forums I post on, I often am reminded of the “dry drunk syndrome”, but I’m not totally convinced about the actual meaning. I realize that if we aren’t happy about our recovery, we’ll probably relapse. If we can’t honestly accept the fact that we can never drink again, we’ll probably relapse. If we keep thinking about how much we miss drinking, or wish we could drink, we’ll probably relapse. And if we carry anger and resentment about not being able to drink, we’ll probably relapse. So how do we come to terms with this? How do we deal with those issues?

I think that answer will be a bit different for everyone, but the one key factor will be honestly accepting the fact that you can never drink again. Once you’ve accepted that, sobriety makes sense. It is the only way for us, the only way to truly become the person we know we can be. The only way we’ll be able to let go of the anger and resentment that many of us feel in the initial stages of recovery.

And once we get there, the weight of quitting is lifted from our shoulders, and when that happens, we can plan our future with optimism. Knowing we can get through any problems that life throws at us each day. A new year is just around the corner, full of opportunities and surprises. Treat each day as a new page, each month as a new chapter, and be the author of the life you want to live….

Awesome ABC -you need to write a book -seriously.

[madonmehndi]

Another Christmas over and back to work for me tomorrow. My second Christmas sober and it was every bit as good as my first one. We were at the in-laws yesterday, ate way too much, but enjoyed all the food anyway. And brought a big box of leftovers back with us!

Driving home last night I got to thinking how far I’ve come on my journey and what it took to get me here. Hard work, determination, faith, hope, love, support, acceptance, and the list goes on. Where any one of those more important than the other? I don’t know, what I do know is that I needed them all at one point or another in my journey.

As I read through threads on this forum, and the other 2 forums I post on, I often am reminded of the “dry drunk syndrome”, but I’m not totally convinced about the actual meaning. I realize that if we aren’t happy about our recovery, we’ll probably relapse. If we can’t honestly accept the fact that we can never drink again, we’ll probably relapse. If we keep thinking about how much we miss drinking, or wish we could drink, we’ll probably relapse. And if we carry anger and resentment about not being able to drink, we’ll probably relapse. So how do we come to terms with this? How do we deal with those issues?

I think that answer will be a bit different for everyone, but the one key factor will be honestly accepting the fact that you can never drink again. Once you’ve accepted that, sobriety makes sense. It is the only way for us, the only way to truly become the person we know we can be. The only way we’ll be able to let go of the anger and resentment that many of us feel in the initial stages of recovery.

And once we get there, the weight of quitting is lifted from our shoulders, and when that happens, we can plan our future with optimism. Knowing we can get through any problems that life throws at us each day. A new year is just around the corner, full of opportunities and surprises. Treat each day as a new page, each month as a new chapter, and be the author of the life you want to live….

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!! This was just the post I needed to read today, I have been struggling this afternoon with crazy cravings and feeling like what is the point, I want a drink, life is boring and rubbish without alcohol etc... etc.... etc.... but in the back of my mind knowing it is just my addiction trying to drag me back down, I am so grateful to you for posting this

[madonmehndi]

PS hope you don't mind but I shared part of your last post on my thread

[abcowboy]

No problem Maddy! Glad I could help! The more we can get the message out that drinking doesn't help, the better it is for everyone!