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Thayendanegea
quiet walker



Registered: 02/20/12
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Re: Alcoholics Anonymous (Come and share thread) [Re: yogabunny]
#22854568 - 02/02/16 10:49 AM (7 years, 11 months ago) |
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Good for you bunny...you made it through a tough situation. An old-timer friend of mine said "A good day is when everything goes your way and you didn't drink....a great day is when things went wrong and you didn't drink". If you don't feel comfortable being around it then don't....it is your choice. However, once you complete the steps...those cravings will most likely go away, at least for me they did.Today, I can go anywhere with anyone and not be tempted....this is called freedom from the bondage of alcohol.A friend of mine in the program actually drives a liquor truck for a living....He's been sober for years. If I ever find myself in a precarious situation...I always say something under my breath like..."God, get my back"or "Give me a hand, please"...I also keep the serenity prayer in my tool kit. I rarely feel the need to use prayers like these anymore...but,in early recovery, I relied on them several times a day on some days.
-------------------- Look Deep Into Nature,and Then You Will Understand Everything Better. Albert Einstein
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yogabunny
fancy cat



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Re: Alcoholics Anonymous (Come and share thread) [Re: Thayendanegea]
#22856581 - 02/02/16 07:12 PM (7 years, 11 months ago) |
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The funny thing is the actually thought of drinking wine made me sick to my stomach, it was just pure jealously. Jealous of the fact that other people can just have a couple of drinks of wine with dinner and leave it at that.

If I do start going to meetings and working the 12 steps, I think I am going to wait until after my boyfriend and I have landed in our new location (March 1st). Then I will really feel like I can dive in and commit to having a official sponsor, etc.
I'm also doing this online conference called Recovery 2.0 later on this month, which I'm really looking forward to.
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Thayendanegea
quiet walker



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Re: Alcoholics Anonymous (Come and share thread) [Re: yogabunny]
#22858654 - 02/03/16 08:31 AM (7 years, 11 months ago) |
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Sounds like you're well on your way. The Big Book makes a reference to being around alcohol something like..."you will recoil, as if from a flame."...that's paraphrasing...but it seems like you may have already experienced this. Every day is a new day...that is why I agree with AA in that the most or longest amount of sobriety any of us can achieve is 24 hrs. All we have is now...and the dynamics of today change constantly. That's why I ask God every morning for protection and to do his / her will. I look at it as insurance.
-------------------- Look Deep Into Nature,and Then You Will Understand Everything Better. Albert Einstein
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Mush 4 Brains
about tree fiddy


Registered: 12/19/07
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Re: Alcoholics Anonymous (Come and share thread) [Re: Thayendanegea]
#22858858 - 02/03/16 09:49 AM (7 years, 11 months ago) |
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A lot of people are turned off by the god stuff obviously. I myself can overlook it (atheist here) its other aspects of aa that gets to me. A big one is the idea that you are powerless over alcohol. If I was truly powerless id never be able to stop. So that logic is fucked.
Also I personally feel that constantly surrounding myself with people talking about alcohol/drugs would inevitably tempt me more than just trying to get on with my life.
Aa works for some people so I can't knock it completely. I've honestly never gone to a meeting and don't think I could bring myself to do so. I've known a few aa members and there's a certain cockiness (for lack of a better word) to some of them. Their way is the ONLY way, thats why some think they're cult like.
Convincing yourself that there is only one way to do something is detrimental, and imo sets you up for failure.
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Thayendanegea
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Re: Alcoholics Anonymous (Come and share thread) [Re: Mush 4 Brains]
#22858995 - 02/03/16 10:31 AM (7 years, 11 months ago) |
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Thanks for sharing. I would like to address a couple of your misunderstandings about AA. 1) the powerlessness over alcohol. If you were truly an alcoholic, you would better understand this. The powerlessness comes more after we put the first drink in us not before. Willpower may help us stay away from the first drink for awhile but after the first one, we're pretty much fucked. Hence the saying..."One drink will get you drunk". The powerlessness is understood by people that have tried all other ways to stop drinking and have failed.
2) The God thing...All AA asks is that you are willing to admit that there must be something bigger than yourself out there....That's it...all you need for a beginning. Something beyond scientific principles. I still, to this day cannot understand how anyone can look at a sunrise over a mountain range and not believe that there is some power that created this...that it was just not random chaos coming from nothing and going nowhere. 3) AA is the only way....lol, This is not the case, nor should anyone ever think so...AA is for people who have exhausted their resources ....tried every other way to stop drinking....AA does work...There are millions around the globe that can attest to this...I've been sober almost 17 years because of it...I know people that have over 40 years...The big book is printed in something like 47 languages and Time magazine recognized it's founder Bill Wilson as one of the 20th centuries top 100 contributors to the good of mankind. I know for a fact that if we ever met on the street, you would not know I was a member of AA...I don't go around preaching it...I only offer help if someone needs it and asks for it. This is not just me...but how all sober alcoholics in the program should be. Some of my family still don't know I am a member in recovery...They don't need to. AA is not a cult...there is no brainwashing....just 12 steps to help you become a better person that doesn't need alcohol or drugs to cope with life.
-------------------- Look Deep Into Nature,and Then You Will Understand Everything Better. Albert Einstein
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yogabunny
fancy cat



Registered: 11/01/09
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Re: Alcoholics Anonymous (Come and share thread) [Re: Thayendanegea]
#22862112 - 02/03/16 11:37 PM (7 years, 11 months ago) |
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Do you still regularly attend meetings?
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Thayendanegea
quiet walker



Registered: 02/20/12
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Re: Alcoholics Anonymous (Come and share thread) [Re: yogabunny]
#22862760 - 02/04/16 08:55 AM (7 years, 11 months ago) |
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Yes, and I do service work. I really think ...the 12th step (helping others) is paramount to obtaining and keeping some peace of mind. Peace of mind is not over-rated....
-------------------- Look Deep Into Nature,and Then You Will Understand Everything Better. Albert Einstein
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JustForToday
New Life, New Beginnings


Registered: 09/08/14
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Re: Alcoholics Anonymous (Come and share thread) [Re: Thayendanegea]
#22868567 - 02/05/16 05:08 PM (7 years, 11 months ago) |
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Sorry for my absence all. Sunday morning I found myself homeless with all my stuff on the streets of Florida. I didn't drink. I am some where safe now. I spoke at a treatment center last night. Two guys there begged me to sponsor them. I'm trying to get back on my feet so idk.
BTW. I got a question for those who wonder about the first step. In your own words. What does powerlessnes mean to you?
-------------------- Hey Shae, Are you still doing that hand thing? I heard you was doing that hand thing today. Oh God what is that?!
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JustForToday
New Life, New Beginnings


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Re: Alcoholics Anonymous (Come and share thread) [Re: JustForToday]
#22889137 - 02/10/16 06:53 PM (7 years, 11 months ago) |
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I just got my heart broken pretty badly.. Idk how to continue. I still haven't drank.
-------------------- Hey Shae, Are you still doing that hand thing? I heard you was doing that hand thing today. Oh God what is that?!
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Amanita86
OTD Keymaster


Registered: 09/26/12
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Re: Alcoholics Anonymous (Come and share thread) [Re: JustForToday]
#22890297 - 02/10/16 11:25 PM (7 years, 11 months ago) |
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Fuck a drink.. I was dry for a little while and decided to crack a leftover beer...2 24 packs later I'm re drying.. that shit is like a snowball rolling, it's either all or nothing. With me, that is..
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Orange clock, pencil "They threw me off the hay truck about noon..."
*Mark 15:34  Gam zeh ya’avor...
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Thayendanegea
quiet walker



Registered: 02/20/12
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Re: Alcoholics Anonymous (Come and share thread) [Re: JustForToday]
#22891033 - 02/11/16 08:02 AM (7 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
JustForToday said: I just got my heart broken pretty badly.. Idk how to continue. I still haven't drank.
Read pgs. 84-88 and do what it says. Remember the good day / great day scenario....yours obviously was a great day.
-------------------- Look Deep Into Nature,and Then You Will Understand Everything Better. Albert Einstein
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Thayendanegea
quiet walker



Registered: 02/20/12
Posts: 7,596
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Re: Alcoholics Anonymous (Come and share thread) [Re: Amanita86]
#22891040 - 02/11/16 08:06 AM (7 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
Amanita86 said: Fuck a drink.. I was dry for a little while and decided to crack a leftover beer...2 24 packs later I'm re drying.. that shit is like a snowball rolling, it's either all or nothing. With me, that is..
I remember feeling just that way...wondering how the fuck I got to this point again. I never really tried to stop drinking completely though...just tried to regulate it. That was a lesson in futility.
-------------------- Look Deep Into Nature,and Then You Will Understand Everything Better. Albert Einstein
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yogabunny
fancy cat



Registered: 11/01/09
Posts: 11,281
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Re: Alcoholics Anonymous (Come and share thread) [Re: Thayendanegea]
#22892905 - 02/11/16 07:15 PM (7 years, 11 months ago) |
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Futile indeed.
I have 33 days sober.
This is the longest I have gone in nearly two years without alcohol. I am focused and determined and no longer spinning my wheels in the mud of being a high functioning alcoholic:
Since I quit drinking I have almost quadrupled my monthly income and recently received an invitation to teach yoga for 3 months in Greece!
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Thayendanegea
quiet walker



Registered: 02/20/12
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Re: Alcoholics Anonymous (Come and share thread) [Re: yogabunny]
#22895380 - 02/12/16 10:58 AM (7 years, 11 months ago) |
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Awesome!!!....I love good news.
-------------------- Look Deep Into Nature,and Then You Will Understand Everything Better. Albert Einstein
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neznaika2
Stranger
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Re: Alcoholics Anonymous (Come and share thread) [Re: Thayendanegea]
#22899003 - 02/13/16 08:42 AM (7 years, 11 months ago) |
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Alexei, Alcoholic
I think Shroomery is a good website for AA. I keep reading heartbreaking stories of your lives and recovery and it gives me hope. It helps me to vent here so I don't have to go to AA. Someone from AA gave me their 3 months coin for some reason lol.
I have family that still supports me, but their help comes at the price of losing my dignity. I stopped drinking for 5 months and so far I keep losing my battle against alcohol (it still on my mind). I keep living in the past when I was self sufficient individual and could "control" my drinking. I still have some social life, but it just not the same without drinking. Everyone notices it too around me.
Materialistically, I still have almost everything I want. In some aspects I am getting better, my depression is fading away. The biggest thing I struggle with is finding, what do I really want out of this life? I can't enjoy things the way I used to.
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yogabunny
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Re: Alcoholics Anonymous (Come and share thread) [Re: neznaika2] 1
#22904059 - 02/14/16 01:26 PM (7 years, 11 months ago) |
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Thanks for sharing
Today I had a realization. I used to describe myself as a "high functioning alcoholic", but I'm realizing that I was just an alcoholic.
I have squandered soooo much time and energy drinking and being low energy due to being hungover!
Day 36 and my energy levels continue to skyrocket! Today I feel happier and healthier than I have in a really, REALLY long time.
Sobriety is my new superpower!!!
Happy Valentines Day all!
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yogabunny
fancy cat



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Re: Alcoholics Anonymous (Come and share thread) [Re: JustForToday]
#22906547 - 02/15/16 07:54 AM (7 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
JustForToday said: BTW. I got a question for those who wonder about the first step. In your own words. What does powerlessnes mean to you?
To me this means that whether by nature or nurture (or a combination of the two) an individual is predisposed toward addictive/compulsive behaviors with alcohol.
Take me for example. My family is full of alcoholics on both sides. It's in my DNA - literally, I had it tested through 23&me and I have genes that make me more likely to be an alcoholic.
My problem with AA is that I do not believe that I have to STAY powerless. I wholeheartedly believe I can reprogram myself to be someone who does not have addictive/compulsive behavior toward alcohol. I believe that is one of the primary things I have been accomplishing over the past 5 years on the medicine path with Ayahuasca.
I found a website called "Refuge Recover" - it's recovery from addiction from a Buddhist perspective. They have online/phone meetings and I'm going to attend one this Wednesday!
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JustForToday
New Life, New Beginnings


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Re: Alcoholics Anonymous (Come and share thread) [Re: yogabunny]
#22908173 - 02/15/16 04:24 PM (7 years, 11 months ago) |
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Here is a homework assignment for you bunny. When you read this. The next morning I want you to wake up bright and early before the sun comes up. I want you to stop the sun from coming up. I will know once you complete this task. Good luck.
-------------------- Hey Shae, Are you still doing that hand thing? I heard you was doing that hand thing today. Oh God what is that?!
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yogabunny
fancy cat



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Re: Alcoholics Anonymous (Come and share thread) [Re: JustForToday] 1
#22909414 - 02/15/16 08:34 PM (7 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
JustForToday said: Here is a homework assignment for you bunny. When you read this. The next morning I want you to wake up bright and early before the sun comes up. I want you to stop the sun from coming up. I will know once you complete this task. Good luck.
I get what you're saying, but I don't know if this is the greatest metaphor.
I have changed other aspects of my personality - jealously, anger, through changing my thoughts and mindfulness practices...why not this?
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m4dScientist
Music Always Helps


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Re: Alcoholics Anonymous (Come and share thread) [Re: yogabunny]
#22909918 - 02/15/16 10:09 PM (7 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
yogabunny said:
Quote:
JustForToday said: Here is a homework assignment for you bunny. When you read this. The next morning I want you to wake up bright and early before the sun comes up. I want you to stop the sun from coming up. I will know once you complete this task. Good luck.
I get what you're saying, but I don't know if this is the greatest metaphor.
I have changed other aspects of my personality - jealously, anger, through changing my thoughts and mindfulness practices...why not this?
Hey bunny.
I see what the both of you are saying, but changing aspects of your personality is simply working on your character defects. Alcoholism isn't a character defect, it's who you are at your core. I believe we are born alcoholics. I don't believe we develop into alcoholics. Yes, progression happens, but we develop addictions because alcohol does something to us which it does not do to other people.
Alcohol isn't my problem, it's the solution to my problem. Whether 5 days, 5 months, or 5 years from now I pick up a drink, the result will ALWAYS be the same. Life experience has shown me that no matter how long I'm removed from a drink, whenever I pick up, I am powerless over making the decision to stop drinking.
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