Hi guys a valued visit from a vintage undie!
Siesta, you have to come to your graduation ceremony in the Year and Over thread, we await you with cameras ready! I absolutely loved your list and think you ought to print it out and frame it.
BeFree, the number of conversations I have gotten into where I have talked of my recovery/sobriety with complete strangers only to find they are either in the same situation themselves or have a close friend or family member. The more I talk about it, the less I feel stigmatised by my alcoholism, and the more widespread I realise it is. I'm sorry you have to fire someone, unless one happens to be a complete bast4rd, it is one of the hardest things to do. My hubby has had to fire a few folk recently, he jokes about it, but I know that it is a cover for how tough it is on him. I talked to him about it and made him aware that I understood how difficult it was for him and that he had my support. He always gets an extra long hug coming home after one of those days.
Glandon, that is an interesting subject you raise, and I feel to an extent much depends on the person. I would say that in the early days, when we are making new memories to over ride drunken ones, when we are adjusting to a new way of life alcohol free, when we are vulnerable to temptation to return to a drinking lifestyle, when we are coping with issues relating to or suppressed by our drinking, we need to constantly and consistently reaffirm our sobriety and maintain our recovery, making it our primary daily goal.
As we move further down the road of recovery, when we are living a new sober life, happily content and comfortable in our sobriety, and adamant that alcohol is in our past and will remain there, we can spend more time looking at other aspects of our lives which will have changed or need changed in our sobriety.
I did find ( and this is personal ) that after a while, spending time on the newcomers threads became detrimental to my recovery and withdrew.
I guess for me the difference was when I went from thinking of myself as 'in recovery' actively needing to maintain my sobriety to 'being sober' living life normally, just without alcohol as a consideration.
I maintain my links here because I cannot afford to ever forget that I am an alcoholic, I cannot afford complacency, or neglectful vulnerability. I hold myself accountable for all the years I drank, and hold myself accountable for preventing a return to that way of life, and will do everything within my ability to maintain my sobriety. A daily reminder of where I came from keeps me focused. Also I believe fundamentally that SR gave me back my life. It is a debt I am more than willing and happy to pay forward, as many times as I am able. If I making even a small difference towards strengthening someone in their recovery, I know that my days in alcohol have gifted me the wisdom and experience to help another, so were not a complete waste, one good thing came out of them.