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There's already some great material here, and I'm mighty relieved to see it.
ZTH made a few of the points in Post #10 I was going to hone in on - especially on the caveat of Dual Diagnosis - and I extend my admiration. Fabulously-clear writing; also coursing right through this new Thread.
An Old Saying:
~ 'Intelligence is not what your know. It's knowing what you don't know' ~
^^^ My Personal Mantra. As applied to what I needed to learn to design and build this Solar House. As applied to designing my own Rehab Program for significant Whiplash. The pain was so severe, our Attorney circa 1990 tells us, 2 of his Clients enduring similar pain ended it all with Guns. As applied to achieving what I call 'Effortless Sobriety' - now, not back then - via my own Tool Kit of Sobriety Strategies to sober up the only Person that mattered: moi. And, yes, I was a real Alcoholic. With 42 Years 'experience' in increasingly-hard Drinking 24/7. The common theme I see is that one has to reach what I call 'The Big Quit Decision'. Once a Person hits that point, Sobriety begins via varied Methods. Due to deep personal commitment...
Besides sobering myself up with SR and other support, a significant, parallel challenge was confronting the hopeless message that I couldn't be responsible for my own Sobriety. Right. SR was also handy for figuring out which failure-ensured Approaches I did
not want to take. Knowledge is power, eh? Folks lift Cars off trapped Persons. And, didn't think they could do that. Folks step in to stop/talk down Shooters and Hostage-Takers. And, didn't think they could do that. And, so on.
We can do hard things, as a SR Signature Line here goes.
I'm no special Sober Snowflake; another message we Self-Sobered get. That only some rareified Group can self-manage Sobriety WITH support.
Gerand Twine - for one - and other Senior Members authoritatively put that myth to Bed. One reason this Lifetime Student circles back around to SR while enjoying RV Trips while Sober. Whatever perturbs some here about being treated like a 'Student' is lost on me. Some Folks need to check their Egos at the proverbial Door, and learn what they don't know. With Humility. Remember when you read a Senior Member's Post like
Algo's here in SC and didn't learn anything? Me neither.
An estimated ~25% of the Population is classified as 'Introverts' along a sliding scale. I be one. One of my recent epiphanies is that we're immutably wired as we are. Thus, Sobering up has to fit that Personality Type Reality. There is *unbelievable*, pervasive Recovery bias that we Introverts are gonna sit around - secluded - and not get Sober. Below is one of the better Articles I've found on this topic. The sole, customized Sobriety Tool Kit that will work for us is one that acknowledges differences without trying to shove us all into a shallow, uniform Recovery Box that virtually ensures Relapse. Indeed, once forever Sober, my personal work since has been in confronting and deftly weaving through ingrained Social Bias on Recovery/Sobriety, and in finding Serenity while 'cherry picking' Social Situations and Social Obligations. Wedding Receptions, etc.. I call myself 'Militantly Sober'. By that I mean I'm forced to develop and work within my firm Sober Boundaries that morph over time. One of my preferred Strategies:
~ If It's Not Fun, Why Do It'? ~
Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Bumper Sticker
- Introvert & Extrovert Differences -
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