No Slips, trips or falls

[CAPTAINZING2000]

How many on here have not had a slip since coming into AA ? I'm thinking, there are a couple of old timers and me in my area home groups that, have never had a slip. I've not seen any kind of information as to how many people have at least a slip or two.

[Tazman53]

I have not slipped since my second AA meeting, of course my first one was 5 years before my secong one! LOL

[Carol87]

No slips in 21+ years of sobriety ... HOWEVER ... I have had several emotional slips ...

Happy Holidays ...

[laurie6781]

I had dug my hole so deep and already died, so that by the time I walked into the rooms of AA there was no where for me to 'trip, slip, or fall' except in the grave.

It's been continuous sobriety since June 7, 1981 for this alkie.

Hope you all have a safe, sane, peaceful and serene Holiday!!!!!!

Love and hugs,

[Rob B]

God Separated me from Alcohol July 8th 2004, I have not had a drink since. I am done for good and all, Just like the Big Book States. As long as I stay connected to God, I will never have to drink again.

The lie sold to us by people pretending to be our friends is that relapse is a natural part of recovery,nonsense. Relapse is actually good business for the treatment industry, too bad so many folks die before making it back.

[Tommyh]

I went to AA for one yr in 87 and slipped all the way.
In late July 88 I had my last drunk,and I came back to AA in early August and have not drank since.Like Dr Bob and Rob,I wanted to quit for good.Thats it,done.Finished.

probally 75 % of the people in my home group has had slips.

[Sugah]

That depends on what you mean by "coming to AA."

My first experience was in a psychiatric ward. I don't remember those meetings, but someone who was there with me does and says I was present.

My next experience was a few months when I didn't trust the program, so I used it in conjunction with marijuana maintenance. I was given an ultimatum by the man I was living with.

My third experience was also in a psychiatric (dual-diagnosis) ward. I vaguely remember those meetings. I was pretty zonked on psychiatric meds.

I obviously didn't get a sponsor or take any steps those three times.

The first time I really put my heart into sobriety was when I detoxed the last (and, I pray, the final) time. I was five days clean & sober, so that would have been November 2, 2002. I have not found it necessary to take a drink since then.

Peace & Love,
Sugah

[aasharon90]

Hi Im Sharon and Im an alcoholic.

By the Grace of my HP and people
like you here in rooms like this I havent
found it necessary to pick up a drink
of alcohol since 8-11-90.

For that and you I am truely grateful.

Thanks for letting me share.

[Jfanagle]

I went to 3 meetings in 1995 never planned on quitting so I was not really in AA, but when I decided that life was no longer "liveable" in 1999 I went to AA to quit. I am not sure I have another recovery in me so I have been sober since that time.

Merry Christmas,

Jon

[nandm]

I was court ordered to AA in 1986 after a DUI. My intention was not to quit drinking but find a way to drink without getting another DUI. I went to 1 out of the 6 court ordered meetings. When I found out they were there to not drink at all and that they were all "old" people, I was 21 at the time, I decided it wasn't for me. Although I did question whether or not I was an alcoholic.

Jump to 14 years of drinking later. I was exhausted, desperate, miserable on the inside, and willing to do what ever it took to end my drinking even if that meant death. Fortunately, through the grace of God, I wound up back in the rooms of AA and in March of 2009 will have 9 years of sobriety.

Can I say that these years of sobriety have been a breeze? Not by any means. I have been through a serious motorcycle wreck where I am fortunate that the doctors were able to repair my leg and arm so I did not lose them, bankruptcy, going from $30/hr job to welfare, fired twice, had to send my oldest children away because they were out of control, watched my oldest daughter go through meth and prostitution, watch my middle daughter go through drugs and prostitution, lost my youngest daughter to my ex-husband doing what I thought was the right thing (I have seen her once since December 2001), and diagnosis of PTSD/chronic anxiety, and depression (I thought I was just going insane). But the one thing I have not had to do in all of this is drink. It was something that rarely crossed my mind even in the midst of it all. Today I can honestly say that sobriety has been the best thing to happen in my life.

What was the difference between my first AA experience and the one that has worked? Willingness to go to any length to find and stay sober. Acceptance of the fact that I am not all powerful. Surrender to the fact that I am an alcoholic and nothing is going to change that fact even another drink. Applying myself wholeheartedly to this program. Following the instructions laid out in the Big Book. I can not say I have done any of that perfectly but I have and continue to make progress.

Thanks for the topic.

[CarolD]

It was not "coming into AA" that has kept me from
returning to alcohol. I've not had a drink since April '89.

That is God's miracle....

My AA committment gives me a guideline for sober living.
I enjoy AA immensley and Yes! it's support is awesome.

[lizw]

I drank after a year of soberity in AA. That was 10 years ago now and I've been sober ever since.

If I learnt anything from the expereince it was that meetings alone will not keep me sober.

[PaulN]

No wet slips since attending my first meeting 09/12/88. Like Carol87, had my share of mental & spiritual slips though.

[Pinkcuda]

I quit about 2 months before I went to the first meeting that I went to of my own free will. I quit and I was struggling so I went for some support. It made all the difference in my sobriety.

[fraankie]

laurie6781, how can you slip, cats always land on their feet
lol

No Slips, trips or falls

How many on here have not had a slip since coming into AA ? I'm thinking, there are a couple of old timers and me in my area home groups that, have never had a slip. I've not seen any kind of information as to how many people have at least a slip or two.

why would it matter?
it's progress, not perfection
time is a benchmark
but
how important is it
you can google "aa anniversary, sobertime", etc
there are sites that have sober time
probably for all 247 12 step programs
lol
would it not be yard and a half
if
"hi, my name is .............
i am an alcoholic, overeater, gambler, shopaholic, etc
i came in 2/4/76, i had a 2 day slip on 6/5/79, a year and 10 day slip from 12/31/92 to 1/10/93, etc"
what would you do with all that info?
buy a coop
so
best to keep it today
i am sober today

happy holiday
frankie

[Freedom1990]

My sponsor and I both celebrate birthdays in August. He celebrated 27 years this year. I celebrated 18 years this year.

I did go back out after 4 years (went to rehab in 86). He's never drank since his first AA meeting.

[jimhere]

The message of Alcoholics Anonymous in its entirety is that if you are alcoholic, you never have to drink again ever in your life, period.

One of the questions I ask new prospects when they ask me to sponsor them is "Are you ready to give up booze for and for all and you willing to go to any length to do so, are you done?" If they hedge and him and haw and saw "Well..," then I pretty much know they aren't done and I tell them that they might as well get on about finishing the job.

Ever watch a boxing match? Early in the game I do pretty good. Take a few hits, but I'm pretty resilient. I'm confident I can lick this guy. But then he starts beating me up pretty good. I take a hit and I go down. But I've got it in my head that somehow, some way I'm going to beat the game. I get back up. Pretty soon I get knocked down again. But I've got some fight left in me and I get up again. That's me and booze, every time I fall down I get back up. I'm convinced that the greatest harm I did my family was that every time I got knoecked down I get back up and try another round. I'd do good for a while and give myself and every one else some hope-false hope. Then down I'd go again. It took them a long time to trust me again. Late in the match I'm not real steady on my feet and I'm taking a terrific beating. One good punch knocks me down. I get up, woozy and unsteady, one eye swollen shut and a cut on my forehead that is bleeding. Wham! I go down again. Every one in my corner is yelling "Stay down! Stay down! He's gonna kill ya!" I suspect I'm down for the count, but I get back up. Sooner or later I end up flat on my back wondering how the hell that happened. I know I'm done, that I get back up I will get beat to death. I throw in the towel, I concede the match. The trick is to stay down.

Two months before I got sober I ended up in a flea-bag motel with no where to go. I'd alienated everyone and wasn't welcome in my own home. I had no options left and I'd ran out of money, people, time, and whiskey. In a drunken stupor I awoke to the truth that I can't drink and I can't quit and I don't know what the hell is wrong with me. You couldn't have told me then, but I was entering into a new state for me, surrender. I drank for two more months after that and in the middle of January 1991 God rendered me sober. I can't even choose the day I get sober on, much less when I drink again.

You see I can't bring about my own surrender. Alcohol brings me to that place. I can't prevent my next relapse. You would think if it was about choice, that I'd have made the wrong choice at least once in the last almost eighteen years. I know that when I believe I have a choice I always make the wrong choice. I also know that in active alcoholism, seperated from what I can't be sperated from, there is no choice but to drink. In the sunlight of the spirit there is no choice to drink, because the problem has been removed.

I used to go speak at a treatment center once a month on Sunday mornings on the first three steps. Afterwards there was a Q & A session. One time the question was "How do you prevent your relapse?" My answer was that I can't prevent my next relapse that I can't bring about my own surrender. That if I could I'd bring about my own surrender, smash my own ego help myself, learn to love myself, work on my self, fix my character defects, do wonderful things for myself prevent my next relapse and that I wouldn't be there on Sunday morning and that I wouldn't be in AA. AA is for people that can't prevent their next relapse. Afterwards one of the staff told me that I was not welcome to come back next month because I said stuff that confused their clients.
Jim

[navysteve]

It is probably true that you and your husband have
been living too much alone, for drinking many times
isolates the wife of an alcoholic. Therefore, you probably
need fresh interests and a great cause to live for
as much as your husband. If you cooperate, rather
than complain, you will find that his excess enthusiasm
will tone down. Both of you will awaken to a new
sense of responsibility for others. You, as well as your
husband, ought to think of what you can put into life
instead of how much you can take out. Inevitably
your lives will be fuller for doing so. You will lose the
old life to find one much better.
Perhaps your husband will make a fair start on the
new basis, but just as things are going beautifully he
dismays you by coming home drunk. If you are satisfied he really wants to get over drinking, you need not be alarmed. Though it is infinitely better that he have no relapse at all, as has been true with many of our men, it is by no means a bad thing in some cases.

This is from the Big Book (pg 120). I cannot claim that I will never drink again, but I sure as hell intend to never drink again, and I believe that I never will so long as I do not forget what got me this far. I cannot stay sober today on what I did a year ago. I hear alot of polarizing things said about slips. Mention it in a meeting and the opinions start flying. I haven't drank since I surrendered to my alcoholism:

Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely
give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates.
They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way.

That takes the ability to blame away from me:

Their chances are less than average.
There are those, too, who suffer from great emotional
and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if
they have the capacity to be honest.

That tells me I should always take the chance when help is asked. I also have found it helpful to remember that going to any lengths means different things to different people. YOu can't ( and shouldn't) go to my lengths. I may have a higher tolerance for pain than you, you may have a different threshold for debasement than I or different abilities, for instance, I knew a newcomer who was scared to death of public speaking, he was more than happy to make coffee, clean up after the meeting, give people rides etc...

His sponsor told him he would be speaking ( coming up on 90 days), the new man pleaded not to. His sponsor insisted, and the new man was seen drunk shortly after. WHile talking to the sponsor I mentioned how most Americans feared public speaking so much they would do anything to get out of it, to which he replied " Well that is what I had to do at 90 days, I guess this guy wasn't ready".

Now, I am not saying that anyone made anyone drink. I am simply saying that going to any lengths is as different as we are. Some are ready to get busy right away, some are not. I balked at steps for years, by what I hear in meetings I was not willing to go to any lengths, yet here I am sober and happy...

Just my thoughts on the subject, the term slip has been around long before the treatment industry. Its our term, from our book

All BB quotes are from first edition

[AW2486]

No Slips for me today..