Announcement

**Gaia** · February 23, 2011, 05:37 PM

AF Daily ~ Wednesday 23rd Feb

Haloooo again.

Just circling back.

How's your day been? Everyone doing ok?

**prancy** · February 23, 2011, 05:46 PM

AF Daily ~ Wednesday 23rd Feb

Forget the past, plan for tomorrow, and live for today...
Your signature.
I am trying to do that. Not having all that much success but trying real hard!
Day 16 here.

**Doggygirl** · February 23, 2011, 05:58 PM

AF Daily ~ Wednesday 23rd Feb

Hello fabbies! Thanks Cassia for getting things rockin' and rollin' today. Great topic this question of when does the act of NOT drinking stop being an all consuming task. Many great comments so far!

I really like what AA said about this. (both the program and the poster LOL)

In AA we use a phrase that says "We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it..' and to me it rings very true. If I forget/block from my mind how I got here, then I am very likely doomed to drinking again. There will be some obstacle, some challenge, that comes up in life that will be difficult to handle, right? But if I can 'count my blessings' and remember the hard work and perseverance that got me here, I stand a good chance of handling it the right way!

What I like about the bolded part which is a quote from the Big Book - the section known as "The Promises" is that it reflects BALANCE. Not the one extreme of being horrified and mortified over my past and just wanting to die, and not the other extreme which is pretending that none of it ever happened, or that none of it matters at all, etc. One of the things I have realized about myself in the sober journey is that I really am inclined to be a person of extremes. (I know. You're shocked, right? :H)

I no longer feel like I am fighting the compulsion to drink on a daily basis, thank goodness. I also know that it would be folly to go to the other extreme, and forget (or stop reminding myself) that I am an alcoholic who can never safely drink. Getting complacent would be very dangerous territory for me. My original sobriety date was July 11, 2007. Complacency and self delusion are the reasons that is not my sobriety date today. AL is cunning, baffling and powerful. I can never forget that either.

AA, when we read the other reading today, I thought of you too.

Well, I just got a call from a friend of mine whose brother is trying to drink himself to death. Gonna try to hook her up with a couple of AA men who might be able to suggest rehab or something. So I guess it's zoom zoom time.

One thing is for sure...

DG

**jennyneric** · February 23, 2011, 06:59 PM

AF Daily ~ Wednesday 23rd Feb

Hi all, speaking of sobriety dates, when I see them I always wonder. . . what happened that time? The day before my sobriety date I was in the throws of upheaval, my life was diminishing, my existence was threatened. Is everyones sobriety date a reminder of the horrid incident that happened the day before or do most just wake up to a normal day having had a normal night before but now it is just time to stop?

**mylife** · February 23, 2011, 07:16 PM

AF Daily ~ Wednesday 23rd Feb

Hello guys,

Just stting in an airport and waiting on a plane! I'm tired and just want to go home and crawl into bed, but I have to say these posts today are very deep and thought provoking! My sobriety date really doesn't remind me of anything in particular. I just want to be a happier and healthier person and I generally am when I don't drink. It's just that simple.

Hope you all have a fabulous evening or night or morning wherever you are!

**papmom3** · February 23, 2011, 07:23 PM

AF Daily ~ Wednesday 23rd Feb

ahhh, we are DEEP today fabber friends!!

I have to admit that almost not a day goes by that I still don't think about AL (like that double negative???) but mostly it's thoughts like "Maybe I should just start drinking again". For no good reason either except that's what I did every nite for the past 30 or so years. And then my sober self says NO WAY JOSE!! They are fleeting thoughts and I don't pay too much attention to them. I usually think about what I've read on here and think how much better my life has become. No huge events mind you, just more calmness, enthusiasm, and most of all caring about others. So while I'm not at M3's stage of its like being a vegetarian-it's just who I am now-I do feel sort of detached when I start having those thoughts. Almost like its someone else thinking them. I want to get to the point where a whole day goes by that I don't think about AL in some form or another and I know I will. I have to keep reminding myself that I am still in sobriety infancy and to treat each day as a journey.

In answer to Jenny's question-I didn't have a huge rock bottom experience like getting arrested or ending up in the hospital or in a gutter but it was bottom enough for me and was the accummulation of 2 years of increasing consumption, illness and job security jeopardy. I woke up on day 2 of a hangover (I had finished the wine the night before even tho I had left work in the morning because I was so sick and hungover) and said "This is enough!!!" No more!! I found MWO that day surfing the net and the rest is history. Oh yeah, that day was the start of my journey and as my siggy says, my real sobriety date was 2 months later.

I really really like AA's quote today too and will keep in the front of my mind from now on.

**Lavande** · February 23, 2011, 07:52 PM

AF Daily ~ Wednesday 23rd Feb

The only thing I want today is a new grandchild but that's not going to happen as my daughter just left here still very pregnant :H

My sobriety date is the day I finally pulled my head out of my A__ & admitted to myself that it all had to stop!!!! And the more time goes on the more I realize I wasted several years fooling myself that I wasn't 'that bad'. Well, I was. I am determined to keep my head out in the fresh air & sunshine from now on :H

**Doggygirl** · February 23, 2011, 08:19 PM

AF Daily ~ Wednesday 23rd Feb

StorkStorkStorkStorkStorkStorkStork

No Big Event here either preceding my first OR subsequent sobriety dates. Just sick of it. Well, and I could see Big Trouble coming in my marriage too. But no defining moment. Just "enough." My current sobriety date came after 8 months of MANY sobriety dates after relapse. I honestly don't know why 5/22/08 was The One v. a different one. One thing is for sure - I dont' want to test the waters with AL again because I honestly don't know if I've got another recovery in me. That last round was very scary.

DG

ETA: I guess I should add that I saw no point to life and had a suicide plan prior to my first sobriety date. I just was hopeless and saw no way out. But it wasn't like I swallowed the pills or got a DUI the day before I tried to stop AL. It was just a slow ride to the grave. Life couldn't be more different today. But I know all it would take is one drink to send me right back there.

**jennyneric** · February 23, 2011, 09:09 PM

AF Daily ~ Wednesday 23rd Feb

Thank you all so much for your stories! I really do enjoy them! My last date was and normally is after a horrible night with AL. One where I become a person I don't know and don't want to know. The last couple of times I have put my lives and others life in jeopardy. To that end I am thinking of joining the MADD walk here on April 2 and maybe get a little of that karma that I have given up back.

**momof3** · February 23, 2011, 09:50 PM

AF Daily ~ Wednesday 23rd Feb

I remember my sobriety date as one where I finally realized that if I did not quit, I would surely die a slow death.

Prior to my sobriety date, I had about 45 AF days behind me. I went to a jewelry party at a friends house one evening and I knew I shouldn't have. I was going through a family crisis and was feeling very vulnerable. Well, after saying "no" several times to offers of wine, I finally said yes. That was a very scary night. I think if there was a lake full of alcohol, I would have sucked it dry. I had a 6 hour nonstop drinking fest. I woke up the next day and that was it. I started all over again on Day one April 20, 2008. Some may have called that a "slip" but to me it was a full blown relapse.

M3

**greeneyes** · February 23, 2011, 09:52 PM

AF Daily ~ Wednesday 23rd Feb

I didn't have a bad night, or a normal night either for that matter. Actually, normal was long gone. My life was spirialing so out of control, that looking back on it now it seems almost like some long psychotic episode or something. Wow. I'm SO grateful to be out of that.

**Lavande** · February 23, 2011, 10:07 PM

AF Daily ~ Wednesday 23rd Feb

Grateful, grateful, grateful........

Stork, stork, stork..........

Should I be insulted that my dogs just walked off at 10 pm & went to bed leaving me sitting here alone? :H:H Honestly!!!

**Determinator** · February 23, 2011, 11:42 PM

AF Daily ~ Wednesday 23rd Feb

AF greetings from a hotel room near Sacramento

i think my error after almost 3 years AF was that I pretty much stopped thinking about AL and started to take my sobriety for granted. not good apparently. d-oh!

comon Stork!

a new Paleo podcast tonight with the legendary Matt Lalonde, so I think I'll lay down and listen to that soon. Robb Wolf | The Paleo Solution book and podcast | Paleolithic nutrition, intermittent fasting, and fitness

garlicky hugs all around xxxxxxx

**greeneyes** · February 24, 2011, 07:15 AM

AF Daily ~ Wednesday 23rd Feb

Lavande;1065125 wrote: Should I be insulted that my dogs just walked off at 10 pm & went to bed leaving me sitting here alone? :H:H Honestly!!!

At least they waited until 10!!

Welcome Guest to My Way Out Forums.

Announcement

AF Daily ~ Wednesday 23rd Feb

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment