Riding is a Trigger!

[Jeano]

Help! It finally stopped raining long enough for me to get out in the wind and I'm finding it's a trigger. Been sober 8 1/2 months now (gotta get the 1/2 in there) and my rides were always pub crawls in the past. Took the bike to work today and guess what, I want to stop at the pub on the way home. I know I have to hit a meeting instead. Hope this feeling passes - can't give up riding.


Got any strength, experience and hope for me?

[Rarly Harley]

Jeano: Sobriety and ridin can go hand in hand my friend. Take a different route home from work. The "long way home", if you have time. Not the expressway, but secondary or back country roads. Tune in to the sun on your face, the smells and sights, widen your vision. You will be amazed at what you will see. Reach out during your ride to your higher power/spirit of the universe. Ask that power to remove thoughts of drinking/using. Changing old patterns will help change behaviours. Yes my friend, get to a meeting. Go to many meetings. Hook up with sober AA bikers. There are a lot of us out there. Learn to ride sober from sober riders. That's what I did. I've been riding sober since 1990. Keep posting on this site and welcome to SR.

[TonyB]

There is all kinds of things out there that are “triggers”. The good news is….. The more time you get, the less severely they affect you (So I’ve been told) as I have about the same time in you do. And the more tools you have to deal with them.
Here is what I do… and it sound like you are already on this path… Get you’re ass to a meeting!! Call someone in the program and your sponsor, Say a prayer…!
Try to remember “This too shall pass” or say the serenity prayer.
That’s the thing, now we are trying to learn how to live life sober. It’s going to be a rollercoaster ride sometimes. But I’ve also been told that it gets better…. As long as I do the “do’s” and not the “don’ts”
I’ve been lucky, I haven’t had a craving like that in a couple of months. But when I do, I know there are people that can help. Other alcoholics. When I first started coming around, everything made me want to drink. When I asked my sponsor why doing X made me want to drink. He said something very important to me. “Tony, because you are an alcoholic. You have an allergy of the body and an obsession of the mind.”
When I asked him how do I get rid of the obsession. He simply said “Do the do’s” and stay away from the “don’ts”
The do’s being… Going to an assload of meetings, calling people in the program, 12 step work and prayer… prayer… prayer…
Good luck my friend. Thank you very much for sharing that…. Brought me right back to where I needed to be.
Tony

[chris k]

I live in the DFW area, which has alot of meetings and meeting places. Im riding to different groups in search of the worst cup of coffee. It seems I always see a bike parked at starbucks, if not one usually stops if im parked there, ive met some cool people there.

[Gooch]

for an ice cream cone!


It was suggested to me that I find some folks that rode that weren't stopping at the bar all the time. There are quite a few C & S outfits around and I was lucky to also have a few old buds who introduced me to some new ones that didn't go bar hopping. There were a few guys I knew from meetings that rode so we would get a little crew together and ride to meetings.

Seemed as though our riding trigger changed on us though. Nowadays we do a lot of ice cream runs.

[BillJ]

Originally Posted by Jeano

Hope this feeling passes - can't give up riding.

Jeano,

I'm with Rarly: take the long way home!

My E, S & H on this topic is that, having prayed for a sober, God-centered life, anything I allow to take center stage will cause me great pain, and threaten my sobriety. That means anything, including my motorcycles, and God knows I love my motorcycles.

On the other hand, if I make sobriety and spiritual growth a primary focus of my life, I get to enjoy my bikes, long rides, pretty girls, and all that good stuff. The AA book says "We absolutely insist on enjoying life," and I intend to!

[tramp]

i never heard of triggers till i went to treatment. when they brought it up i laughed. not to offend anyone, but i see it as treatment talk.
i never needed an excuse or a trigger to drink. i ride where i want , listen to whatever music i want. they weren't triggers. alcohol was the trigger. that it exsisted was the only excuse i needed to drink it.
i knew i was an alcoholic by the time i was 13 and quit making excuses for my behaviour about the same time.
triggers are like the boogie man to me, i don't believe in them.
i never prayed for a sober, god centered life, i just prayed for the faith to have faith.
and hoped i could do this thing right.
so the reward for me was a perfect release from my compulsion to drink. maybe i should have asked for more, but i get the feeling id be doin this stuff over and over again till i got it right.
these are just things, they have no power but what we give them.
just doin time.....
my .02