Weekly AA Thread - Dec 28 - Jan 3

[retteacher]

Weekly AA Thread - Dec 28 - Jan 3

Happy New Year to everyone here at this wonderful thread. I feel such hope for 2010!

Phil: I spent NYE w/family: I made a big pot of sauce, meatballs, sausage w/pasta. We had a great time. My SIL is a police officer & was out til 4AM dealing w/drunken stupidity. I'm grateful I wasn't there w/drinking.

Today we have a New Year's pot luck followed by a meeting. I can't imagine anything better. I woke up this AM bright-eyed & bushy-tailed...a departure from past new year's when I woke up groggy & hung-over.

Take care one & all.

Love, Mary

[Doggygirl]

Weekly AA Thread - Dec 28 - Jan 3

Hi fellow AAers! Just got back from the Alkathon and some shopping. 8AM on New Years Day is a GREAT time to shop at Walmart and have zero wait time at check out! :H

I went to the 5AM meeting on Step 5 where one of my friends from one home group was chairing. Then I chaired Step 6 at 6AM - I was thrilled that Step Coach came - he only did that to support me - he hasn't been feeling very well lately with the cancer situation. Then I also stayed for Step 7 at 7AM as that is the usual time for my home group and lots of the "regulars" came - it was nice to wish everyone Happy New Year.

I love studying the steps. It was not possible for me to comprehend their true meaning just by reading the 12 steps or even by reading about them in the Big Book. The steps are the key to the positive changes going on in my life (starting with Step 1 - admitting I am powerless over alcohol and my life had become unmanageable). I benefit greatly from hearing from the people with years of experience *living* these steps every day. So the 3 hours spent at the club today was definitely "sober living school" and I wish I could have gone earlier, and stayed longer.

One man who was there for Step 7 is someone I have heard a lot about - heard of his deep understanding of the steps and wisdom he shares with his sponsees. My friend who chaired Step 5 is one of his sponsees, and he speaks so highly of this guy. Anyway, I've not been in meetings with him before and WOW. He does seem to have a very deep connection with the steps and how they apply in our lives. I could have listened to him talk all day.

Anyway, what a great way to start the new year. I look forward to learning a little more each day that will help me apply the steps more fully in life over the coming year - one day at a time.

Love, strength and hope to you all!

DG

[retteacher]

Weekly AA Thread - Dec 28 - Jan 3

DG: I too love the steps which are really designed to be done w/someone not alone. I did a preliminary run-through of the steps w/my first sponsor (who is still a friend). However, I'm thinking seriously of doing another go-through w/a small group of women that I've met in AA. I broached the subject w/one of them who seemed to like the idea. We'll see what happens. I've learned through the program that when the time is right, it will happen the way it's supposed to happen. I'm accustomed to forcing outcomes, therefore I'm learning to let HP help guide my life.

We're getting ready to go to the New Year's potluck. I feel lucky to be connected to this group. I want to remember that I'm putting in the effort as well. To me, "walk the walk" refers to the effort I have to put in to feel a part of my AA groups. Now that you've fulfilled your committment for chairing your meetings, dear DG, I'm sure the other AAers have a much better understanding of who you are. I'm sure this is why service is stressed constantly. We have to feel "a part of" in order to recover. I think that's the part that was missing for me before I joined AA. I do feel a part of MWO, but cyber relationships are just very different from face-to-face ones. I'm hoping that some day in the indefinite future, some of us can get together (in the flesh).

Again, the happiest of New Year's to all of you. Remember: If you're lurking & would like to share an opinion, story, question, etc. about AA, don't hesitate to do so.

Mary

[retteacher]

Weekly AA Thread - Dec 28 - Jan 3

Our potluck went very well, & I'm so glad my husb & I went. I just got back from the BB meeting that I usually attend on Friday nights. Mary

[Winefree]

Weekly AA Thread - Dec 28 - Jan 3

Happy New Year 2010!
Mary, meeting in the flesh sometime sounds awesome. We all share a deep connection on this spiritual journey.
I spend time at least twice a week in 12-step meetings. Both my women's meetings on Thursday and Friday are 12 step meetings. We go over the steps and I learn or hear something different each time that helps me on this sobriety path. Today it was so odd, since we read the first step, on the first day of the year. I didn't think we would have many people there, but we had a fairly good group. Everyone shared about their beginning in AA and how they had their bottom. Mostly reinforcing how AA was the best thing to happen to them and how glad they were to have the new life sober.
It was good for me to hear being so new in sobriety.

Hope everyone is having a great first day of January.

Winefree

[Doggygirl]

Weekly AA Thread - Dec 28 - Jan 3

Hi everyone! Mary, it sounds like you had a nice time at the pot luck. It's so cool that your hubby goes with you to some of the group social activities. While that type of support is not *essential* for recovery, it sure is nice!

WF, I too find that there is always something new I hear when any of the steps are discussed. I keep wondering if it will ever get boring, but so far there is always something new, or a very important reminder in each and every meeting I go to - no matter what type of meeting it is.

Today we read This Story from the Big Book at the morning BB study meeting. It's another good one. Not exactly my story, but as usual, many many many things in common. This man was a banker. No DUIs. No loss of his home. But drinking brought him to a place of unmanageability just like all of us.

I could relate to lots of it - but one important reminder stood out for me today. I went to great lengths on a daily basis when I was drinking to keep drinking. I was always busy mentally planning my next drink. I need to be equally willing to go to great lengths on a daily basis to stay sober. I can't afford to "slip" on what is working for me as a daily sobriety plan, lest I "slip" back into drinking. It is NOT too much for me to do to work on my step homework assignment every day, and to read the daily readings and say my prayers. It is NOT too much work to go to a meeting as many days a week as I can, and to reach out to other alcoholics. It's the least I can do.

I am very, very grateful to be sober today. And I am also grateful to have peace in my heart today. That is something truly special that has come into my being through AA. Strength and hope to all who are struggling out there...

DG

[retteacher]

Weekly AA Thread - Dec 28 - Jan 3

I too went to great lengths to drink, both mental & physical lengths. I wasted all kinds of time, energy, & money on drinking. Now, I get to put my time to good use, improving on myself by working the steps, going to meetings, & helping, in some small way, another alcoholic.

Tonight's "Burning Desire" meeting was on relationships before/after drinking. As usual, we walked out of there uplifted. I know I'm fortunate to have the companionship & support of my husband at this meeting. It makes it all the more special. I shared that I'm now fully present & authentic in my relationships, because I am not hiding a "big secret." I'm just beginning to realize the toll that drinking took on all my relationships, particularly my marriage.

In many of my groups, there are members w/decades of sobriety. They get just as much out of the meetings as I, as a newcomer, gets from them. These are the very people that remind all of us of the one day at a time, 24 hour principle. They have 20+ years of 24 hours put together.

Take care one & all.

Mary

[Winefree]

Weekly AA Thread - Dec 28 - Jan 3

Great readings Mary and DG. I am always inspired by what you both have to say and review with all of us. I too am amazed at the long timers in the rooms. They still share their experiences and keep it real for all of us. It's truly amazing to me that they still come to the rooms after 20+ years to help the newcomers and keep it fresh for themselves. I really heard some good things at the Friday night meeting to keep me on track on this path.
Sometimes it really seems like a long hard road but I need to remember it's the only road for me that won't bring me to a dead end.

Winefree

[retteacher]

Weekly AA Thread - Dec 28 - Jan 3

DG: I just read the story from the BB that you gave the link for. I identified w/a few of the experiences the banker had:
-drink planning
-rehearsals: drinking before an event
-his wife saying: "How can you get so drunk on one drink?"...not knowing how much he had to drink beforehand. (My husband used to say that.)
-the obsession to drink
-the slow progression
-the denial: I'm not an alcoholic...I didn't lose my job, get arrested, start drinking young, etc.

I really like it when you give us those links. I go to them & read the stories. I'm beginning to see the value in going over those stories, as they jolt our memories of the "bad old days." Those are days I should never, ever forget lest I start drinking again.

Mary

[cpn1004]

Weekly AA Thread - Dec 28 - Jan 3

Mary, DG and all, yeah I can relate to that story as well.
Isn't it great we don't have to live like that?

[retteacher]

Weekly AA Thread - Dec 28 - Jan 3

Phil: It sure is.

I just got back from my BB meeting. It was packed w/people. Maybe the new year brought people out. I heard a lot of gratitude for sobriety. Also, a AA member of a close-by community died last week. I knew her to see her, & she shared recently that she was just coming back after a relapse. We said a prayer for her, & there were grown men crying, one staight out loud. Where else do you see such honest emotion?

Mary

[Cinders]

Weekly AA Thread - Dec 28 - Jan 3

Hi AA friends,

I am going to be in Dallas this week. I have found a meeting very close by. Yay!!

I loved today's Daily Reflection. I thought I would share in case others don't read those:

It?s usually pretty easy for me to be pleasant to the people in an A.A. setting. While I?m working to stay sober, I?m celebrating with my fellow A.A.s our common release from the hell of drinking. It?s often not so hard to spread glad tidings to my old and new friends in the program. At home or at work, though, it can be a difference story. It is in situations arising in both of those areas that the little day-to-day frustrations are most evident, and where it can be tough to smile or reach out with a kind word or an attentive ear. It?s outside of the A.A. rooms that I face the real test of the effectiveness of my walk through A.A.?s Twelve Steps.

Love,
Cindi