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Weekly AA Thread January 17-23

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    #16
    Weekly AA Thread January 17-23

    Hi fellow travelers! So great to read everyone's posts. Catch, I said a little prayer for your friend. I remember so well being in that dark place and knowing that life could not go on as it was, but still unwilling to imagine a life without alcohol. I hope your friend can muster up the courage to reach out.

    MG, so happy for you that your were able to pull it all together for your classes despite the mishap. Amazing what we are able to accomplish when sober. I used to think that "a drink" ("a" HAHAHAHAHA) was just what I needed to "motivate me" for big tasks. Of course, you all know what happened. Drunk once again, and nothing accomplished. I really smiled reading that you got everything done, and that you have a good plan for the semester with awareness of past pitfalls, and knowledge of what you need to do differently. SOLID. Isn't it amazing how often the meetings we most want to skip (tired, busy, etc.) often have the strongest messages? Makes me wonder how many wonderful messages I have missed when I HAVE skipped.... (pointless thinking there!) Hope you have a good school day today.

    Mary, the "success rate" debate is one that usually gets my shoulders shrugging. That number could be anything depending on how one sets the parameters. It seems like people can drum up whatever number they are looking for. (especially the anti-AA people with really low numbers) I've become comfortable not knowing an answer to the "success rate" question, and just being grateful for my own sobriety, and the sobriety of my friends (including you all) in the fellowship who help me stay sober and enjoy sober living one day at a time. It is very unsettling to watch relapse. But I'm grateful to see it because "pain" is something I tend to forget with the passage of time. I never want to forget the pain that my drinking caused in my life, and then decide to have "just one" (hahahaha).

    K - I am so enjoying your posts. As one who also was very about the HP issue (it was a factor, along with the pesky "abstinence" thing, that kept me away from AA for a long time.) As I have done my own soul searching on the issue, I feel a sense of freedom about the topic that I never felt in church. I hope your day today is another sober and sunny one. Or at least a sober one if the sun doesn't cooperate!

    Nora, it sounds like you are doing a great job figuring out what meetings work well for you. That will all contintue to come together with time. Your post got me thinking about my current desire to adventure to new ones. And that got me thinking.....

    PHIL!!! (or any other travelers) Are you coming to Chicago this year? If you do, we should try to hook up and go to the Mustard Seed!!! Wouldn't that be fun?

    There is a daily devotion book we read at Friday Tough Chicks called "Each Day A New Beginning." I really like this book. I like todays reading so will share it. Phil, Gyco and any other guys reading, you can be women just for a moment here.


    "The especial genius of women, I believe to be electrical in movement, intuitive in function, spiritual in tendency." -Margaret Fuller

    We are women, and we are moving, together and alone. We are moving into new images of ourselves. There is a healing power that comes from moving, from sharing one's ideas and changing one's self. And it is by trusting ourselves and trusting others that we bring harmony, thoughtfulness and courage to all our actions.

    Life holds many possibilities, and we are able to realize them when we risk changing ourselves through taking action. Those of us struggling to recovery are taking action; we are changing ourselves. And as we listen to and support one another, we encourage the necessary changes in our sisters. As one is healed, we are all healed.
    />------------------------------
    "Today holds a special promise for me. I can be in harmony. I can share with others. My courage will strengthen others, and others will strengthen me."
    I am so grateful I am learning to open up and trust some other women in AA. I was really fearful of other women - I realize now THAT was the reason I stayed away from women's meetings. There still may be times when something bad happens in a relationship with a woman (trust broken, etc.) But what I see today is that the benefits of opening myself up FAR outweigh the possible downside risks. Especially since today, I am living my life in a better way - at least trying to do the next right thing. I am not busy creating new "deep dark secrets" that give other people power over me. The courage of others definitely strengthens me and I love that.

    Have a fabulous day one and all!

    DG
    Sobriety Date = 5/22/08
    Nicotine Free Date = 2/27/07


    One day at a time.

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      #17
      Weekly AA Thread January 17-23

      Hi Everyone,
      DG, Just reading your post again, interesting love to hear more about the womans way through the 12steps Material. FEAR for me was base around my drinking...

      Kimberley, it been raining hear a lot could not get to my meeting last night the round about was flooded did not want to chance with my car cutting out. But today is a brighter day ! You got me thinking Kimberly:H about doing something special with my one year coin it funny i never got my 24hr coin, that one is the important one( keep coming back) so maybe i might kept it for a year if i ever get to 2years ! would love to hand it back and recieve my 2 year coin, OR if i ever replase or slip, i will hand it back and get my 24hr coin.
      Marriedgirl, sending you lot of energy your way, i love reading my daily reflection it always gets me started of for the day...x

      Reteacher, They say in AA this month is the worse month for replase, When i hear people that share that they replase and how long it took them to come back, i always share i admire them for coming back and plus i need to see and hear people say this, it helps me and reminds me of how quick one glasses can sent you back to hell again.

      Today am just gratful to be in the here and now moment, it really feels good.:h

      Have a lovely peaceful day everyone.x
      Formerly known as Teardrop:l
      sober dry since 11th Jan '2010' relapse/slip on 23/7/13 working in progress ! Sober date 25/7/13 ( True learning has often followed an eclipse, a time of darkness, but with each cycle of my recovery, the light grows stronger and my vision is clearer. (AA)
      my desire to avoid hitting bottom again was more powerful then my desire to drink !

      Comment


        #18
        Weekly AA Thread January 17-23

        Me again on the way home i realise i put in my post above (always come back) so i had to correct myself (keep coming back,) it was going over and over in my head would not of be able to rest until i corrected it, thank god i dont look back on all my post i would be here for days correcting my mistakes:H
        But on the way i was just thinking again that kimberly fault
        Well just idea that i notice that some of the people are from uk on this thread, well if ever anyone is at a Romford area AA meeting, Just let me know would be a nice way to meet u, or just pm. xXx
        Formerly known as Teardrop:l
        sober dry since 11th Jan '2010' relapse/slip on 23/7/13 working in progress ! Sober date 25/7/13 ( True learning has often followed an eclipse, a time of darkness, but with each cycle of my recovery, the light grows stronger and my vision is clearer. (AA)
        my desire to avoid hitting bottom again was more powerful then my desire to drink !

        Comment


          #19
          Weekly AA Thread January 17-23

          Happy Wednesday everyone,

          Mary, sorry to hear about the relapsing, but it is part of the journey of recovery. Almost all alcoholics will suffer relapse before achieivng long-term sobriety. But it is good to hear when it happens as it does put you on guard. And re the AA stats, as the saying goes 'there are lies, damn lies and statistics'. Sorry you can't get to a meeting, but reading is teaching me loads too, so it's a fairly good substitute when its impossible to travel I guess.

          Married great news about catching up with the work and I'm glad you're enjoying how your sobriety can enchance your studies. Being prepared is so much better than flying through half-cut by the skin of your teeth. I took most of my uni exams semi-drunk. It was ok for english lit, but totally fatal for my German language exams - all my grammar went out of the window and I used French words instead of German in a few of my oral exams - gah!

          Yes Nora - still going to a meeting daily - and twice a day occasionally. I need that many as I start out definitely. I love finding meetings particularly enjoy too.

          DG, thanks for the Daily Devotion - It's great to think about new things or to look at old things differently. I am loving reading the Daily REflections book every morning - it's a nice start to the day. And hooray - it is sunny again today (if bloomin cold)!

          Catch, sorry for getting the cogs whirring Nice idea about the chip - I currently only have my 24-hour, but as people keep telling me, it is the most important one. However, there are a few 'sober anniversaries' I am particualrly looking forward to. I am in North London, Finsbury Park/Holloway area so I tend to go to meetings in Holloway, Angel, Camden at the moment. So if you ever come more central Catch I'd love to meet up. I have no real reason to go to Romford, but I'm guessing its more likely you'd have cause to come into central sometimes

          Hi to the rest of the AAers - hope to read some more of your posts later. I love this thread and learning from you all!

          Anyway, I'm off to make a nice healthy fish pie. now that my sleeping is a lot better I need to try and do nice productive, enjoyable things during the day. Although AA is my priority at the moment, I do need other things in my life too. I love cooking, so I am going to do a bit more of that.

          Kx
          Recovery Coaching website

          "Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending." - Carl Bard wl:

          Recovery Videos

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            #20
            Weekly AA Thread January 17-23

            Hello to all!

            Happy Wednesday everyone! Just checking in. Having a bit of a debate today....sorry this is going to get sooo old. Yet again, more schoolwork to do and NOW the question is do I miss a meeting today to get it done? The way it works out it's pretty much either make a meeting or stay on top of my work. After reading today's posts, I am thinking MEETING! I may have to stay up late and miss some sleep but I don't want to miss a meeting. I am on a roll here!

            Have a great day everyone!!

            MG
            I ain't afraid of no ghost....

            Comment


              #21
              Weekly AA Thread January 17-23

              Everyone: Anyone who knows me here at MWO knows how much I relapsed prior to joining AA. I had real long periods of abs, & then for no apparent reason I would relapse. It was discouraging to say the least. No, I don't judge relapsers, because I had even dubbed myself the "The Relapse Queen" before AA. A real bad drinking experience (which broke a long period of abs) was what got me into AA. I guess I needed the face-to-face, because I haven't relapsed since. Again, I take my sobriety ODAT & know that I'm subject to relapse as much as anyone.

              I've heard so often at meetings (& again on Mon. night) that the relapser thought: "Oh, now that I've been sober a while, I'll only have one drink." Once that one drink passed into her body, she was off & running. I absolutely must remember (just like you DG) how unmanageable my life is when I drink. I must remember those times:
              -I blacked out.
              -I threw up.
              -I stumbled & slurred.
              -I missed entire events.
              -I was paranoid about someone knowing I was drunk.
              -I was obsessed about drinking more, more, more.
              -etc.

              The above is not normal drinking...not even close. When my stinkin thinkin causes me to minimize my drinking, I have to call to mind the above. The disease is always waiting to be reactivated. It thrives on denial, isolation, resentment, fear, etc.

              I too read the Daily Reading about "what would a drink help." Nothing at all. I've drunk through crises, & I've been sober through crises. Sober is much, much better. Yes, we don't get to numb our feelings. But sober, we can go through them & come out the other side.

              Mary
              Wisdom, Courage, Strength
              October 3, 2012

              Comment


                #22
                Weekly AA Thread January 17-23

                A funny thing happened last Fri. night. We had guests for dinner & one had given us a bottle of wine which we opened & served. When they & my husband tasted the wine, nobody liked it very much. They proceeded to pour it down the drain & ended up opening another bottle (which they only drank one glass each from). When I told one of my AA friends about this, she laughed & said: "No way would an alcoholic throw even yucky tasting wine away." For alcoholics, it's not about taste. It's all about the effect the wine has on us. I often say that I really like being around normal drinkers (1 or 2 glass imbibers). They show me how impossible it would be for me to drink that way. Mary


                M
                Wisdom, Courage, Strength
                October 3, 2012

                Comment


                  #23
                  Weekly AA Thread January 17-23

                  Hi everyone.

                  Just a note to say hi, that I'm keeping an eye on the thread down here!

                  I went to my Monday meeting and it was awesome. We had to go to a restaurant -- AGAIN! Love it...

                  I get to go to another meeting tonight, quite happy about that one, but HERE's the good news:

                  I was sober for my daughter's eight year-old birthday, and I'll be sober for her birthday slumber party this weekend! This is the best news I can think of, and it motivates me to look forward to other things in which I'll be able to say I was there, and I was sober -- and it was so much better because of it.

                  Good stuff!

                  Comment


                    #24
                    Weekly AA Thread January 17-23

                    Sona: Many thanks for your lovely post. Please don't hesitate to share...we all need inspirational messages such as yours. As I continue to go to meetings & work the program, my relationship w/my daughter & all my loved ones is more honest & loving each & every day. Mary
                    Wisdom, Courage, Strength
                    October 3, 2012

                    Comment


                      #25
                      Weekly AA Thread January 17-23

                      Well, my sponsor was supposed to have a book study for us, her 3 sponsees tonight but we got snowed out. We are having a HIGHLY unusual winter it has snowed about 4 times more than usual(zero). And snow that sticks, even crazier. I'm kind of glad though maybe it will be less buggy this summer. Kill those mosquitoes off!!

                      Had a pretty good day. Made it thru Day 15 sober, half way to a 30 day chip!!!

                      I finally talked to my best friend that I shared with you all last week about telling I wasn't drinking anymore and didn't care to be around it, then she didn't end up wanting to hang out after all.... she didn't have great news, her car was repo'd....so now she has no job, and no car. I hope this won't come out sounding wrong, because I was very sad for her to hear this news. But, in a weird twisted way, it kind of reaffirms my decision to get sober and get out of a crazy lifestyle where life just HAPPENS to me because I don't have my act together and I'm making bad decisions, or sticking my head in the bottle to avoid my problems and causing them to get worse due to not facing the music. I have always been one to bring problems on myself, and often for just failing to take corrective action in the beginning, and always that was because I just wanted to drink/use to feel good NOW and worry about the problem LATER.

                      Just some thoughts I was having...
                      I ain't afraid of no ghost....

                      Comment


                        #26
                        Weekly AA Thread January 17-23

                        Hi Everyone,
                        Kimberly, maybe in the summer time would be nice, i know camden town. sometimes i meet up with a friend for lunch there every now and then.
                        Sona, it so good to right your post, saying you were there and sober is best. my house is a lot better living in now that am sober i always thought it was everyone else but it was ME ....
                        I feel like my High Power has answered my prayers, anyone that prayed for my friend (Thank You,) is looking a lot better took my friend to the christian fellowship group they have recommend him to go to Teen challenge for 12/18 months :fingers: Dont know if anyone heard of Teen Challenage (rehab recovery program) it all started of in the USA a pastor called David Wilkerson best known for his book The Cross and the Switch Blade. They have lots of Teen Challenage or World Challenage in the USA but in England they only have 3 i think in scotland, wales, and London. This is so weird because years ago in my teens i can remember reading this book and also i think i went to see David Wilkerson at wembley with my friend, never thought i would in up in one of there group places, And trying to help others out is so rewarding.

                        Have a good wekend everyone.x
                        Formerly known as Teardrop:l
                        sober dry since 11th Jan '2010' relapse/slip on 23/7/13 working in progress ! Sober date 25/7/13 ( True learning has often followed an eclipse, a time of darkness, but with each cycle of my recovery, the light grows stronger and my vision is clearer. (AA)
                        my desire to avoid hitting bottom again was more powerful then my desire to drink !

                        Comment


                          #27
                          Weekly AA Thread January 17-23

                          Hey all,

                          It's Friday night/Saturday morning here, so I'll just say Happy Weekend!

                          Married, you'll be over halfway to your 1-month chip now as I type. Me too I like your attitude to putting your meetings before schoolwork. Meetings must be the priority because without them everything would fall apart at some point anyway. That's why I am doing at least one meeting every day for now, even if I don't feel like it - too cold/tired/busy etc. Because if I don't I can say 'goodbye sobriety, hello relapse'.

                          It's good that you can take a positive out of what could be seen as a negative situation re your friend. I completely understand the pattern of often causing your own problems, then sticking your head in the sand (bottle) and making things worse because you are delaying fixing things. Alcohol does not make me effective any more - it now makes me incapable. If I start, I can't really 'do' anything for nearly two weeks cos I'll be on a binge for around a week, only leaving the bed to stagger to the off licence on the corner. Then withdrawals for 4-5 days where I can barely walk or do much more than just lie there. Then a few days more, over the worst of withdrawals, but sooo full of anxiety that I can't make phone calls or deal with anything properly. Not a pretty pattern - what a waste of life.

                          Mary it's great to hear that with AA you've gone from The Relapse Queen to someone with coming up 2 years sober, god willing. It gives me hope as I have been a serial relapser since March last year after a long period of sobriety myself.

                          I hope what'll guard me against that first drink in the long-term is that I KNOW I can never drink normally again - I would never attempt to, because I never can. And i don't want to ever drink again - normally or otherwise. I'm not someone who yearns to moderate any more or drink socially - all I wish for is to be protected from al.

                          The only thing I have to be wary of is that if i'm distressed in any way, I just say "Eff it then" and go on a binge. That has been my pattern since March and I am a very impulsive person with zero coping skills (thanks, Borderline Personality Disorder!). So I hope I can learn some coping skills through my therapist and AA before that situation occurs. And I know a drink helps nothing logically, but I just get these overwhelming feelings (again my BPD) and it's so hard not to pick up in that situation. I am carrying my Where To Find with me in my handbag at all times in case such a situation strikes - and I just hope I have the wherewithal to use it and get to a meeting!

                          Sona, Congratulations on over 3 weeks! Yeah I'm loving the 'meetings after the meeting' too. One of the girls who has just celebrated 2 years sober has invited me to a meeting tomorrow in Brick Lane, which is London's curry infamous mile, and they all go out for an Indian afterwards. Well it woulda been rude to say no...

                          Great that you could be there sober and clear-headed for your daughter's eight year-old birthday. Things are always better sober - and you actually remember all the good times instead of it being a hazy mess in your mind. I bet she was glad of having you really 'there' as well

                          Catch, yeah Camden's just up the road from me and it is nice in the summer with the canal and everything - just give me a yell if you fancy meeting up, I'd be up for that.

                          I hadn't heard of Teen Challenage or World Challenge, maybe they will popularise on these shores over time. But anyway it's great that you can help other people. That's one of the things I am already enjoying about AA. At my meeting a couple of days ago, there was someone whose 3rd meeting it was. I've only done 20 now myself, but I felt like an old-timer compared to her, so I went up to her afterwards to have a chat and she was getting numbers. She asked for my number as well, so we swapped. Then she was telling me that the next day was a trigger day for her as she would've finished work for the week. So I texted her in the morning and just gave her a bit of encouragement - just like others had done for me - and she seemed grateful. It was a nice feeling.

                          Anyway, hi to all the rest of you AAers - I'll catch up with you soon. Looking forward to curry already :yay:
                          Recovery Coaching website

                          "Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending." - Carl Bard wl:

                          Recovery Videos

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                            #28
                            Weekly AA Thread January 17-23

                            I have heard of Teen Challenge....once a million years ago it was suggested to me I might think of going. I'm glad your friend is getting help.
                            I ain't afraid of no ghost....

                            Comment


                              #29
                              Weekly AA Thread January 17-23

                              Last night's discussion was about remorse. One of the promises is: "We shall not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it." I must say that I still have regrets even after some sober time. I missed out on a lot, but as time goes on, the regret lessens. There was a lot of humility in the room. Once a person gets sober, he/she finally begins to realize the damage left behind. All we can do is the next right thing for the next right reason ODAT. Mary
                              Wisdom, Courage, Strength
                              October 3, 2012

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