Tazman53

For some odd reason I see a ring in my future!!! LOL

barb dwyer

I sent my first several months' coins to a friend far far away... whose group doesn't give coins.

scaredykat

I have all of my chips in my jewelry box. A bunch of 24 hours, and all the rest on up to 1 year that I had years ago.

My current ones are on the stand next to my seat in the living room. Lately the chips are discouraging and I get tired of collecting so many white chips (24 hours).

Barb

tiburon88

I relate to you scardycat. I was constantly getting those "beginner" chips when I was "in and out" of the "program". AA can sometimes become a big contest. It's like if someone has many years of sobriety they are a king/queen. I find many people at meetings who brag about their sobriety time to be quite pathetic.

scaredykat

I don't see that around here with our old timers. I get discouraged in myself is what i meant. And that's when i want to give up. Sometimes I just get tired of fighting. at least that's how i feel tonight.

Barb

barb dwyer

I dunno, y'all. I'm not in recovery for what others think.

I'm in AA because ... I won't survive without it.
I need the steps.
I need the truth that is handed me in every meeting.
I need the input of other alcoholics.

I could care less what anyone else thinks.

I'm there .. to save MY life.

it never occurred to me to compete with anyone.
i was broken.
and if I didn't cvhange everything- I was gonna die.
again.

chip

Welcome Pinkcuda!

Thanks for starting a great thread. I keep my chips on the shelf in my wood shop. I had two sets of 24hr, 1month, 2months and 3 months. I returned them to my group. I had two sets of these because I was still secretly smoking pot when I first came into AA.
chip

Tazman53

Tiburon have you ever thought it odd that you are one of the very few people that feel that way?

Picking up chips in early sobriety for me was about me, with more time sober picking up a chip or sharing the amount of time I have sober has nothing to do with me, thanks to working the steps I have escaped "Me". I have learned that the world does not revolve around me, nor does the sun rise and set in my butt.

I have also learned that people in and out of AA do not sit around and talk about me or judge me, they have better things to do in thier life.

I learned this once I quit sitting around talking about and judging other people because I have better things to do then sit around and do that.

Today when I share my time sober or pick up a chip it has nothing to do with me and everything to do with people with less time sober then me. I know that when I first came to AA to see someone pick up a 3 month chip gave me hope because after drinking for 40 years I really felt there was no hope for me.

Early on I was incapable of even beginning to relate to someone being able to stay sober for a year, little lone 10 years, today with almost a year sober people picking up 2 years or more give me further hope for me.

Once I escaped self I lost all envy & jealousy of people with more time then me because I finally realized they were not bragging at all, they were giving me hope.

Yes I have run into a few (VERY few) folks who do brag about how long they have been sober and some of them (VERY few) do try to use it as a badge of authority, these are folks that teach me how not to be.

tiburon88

Taz, I no longer "follow the herd" of AA legend and lore. "Take what you want and leave the rest" is a saying that I am fond of, however, few in AA really agree with this. Many people do not like what I think of the "program", however, it is MY experience. Why should I have to "follow the herd" if I tried that way and it did not work! I know, I know maybe I am constitutionally incapable of being HONEST.
lol

GrouchoTheCat

I actually have a rather large pile of monthly and 24 hr chips that I have collected over the last 10 years or so.

Yes, it has been a sorce of shame for me so I understand Tib. I just left them wherever I put them down and I would open a drawer here or there and find one or two.

Now I have been grabbing all of them and I am putting them all in one place. It's as if I have just come to a piont where I am ready to face this and move forward.

When I get a year together, God willing, I plan to bring them all to my old group and exchange them for a 1 year medallion.

As a side note, chips and medallions are actually relativly new to AA.

Ted

WLDKATZ

not being a msmart ass at all....but think we could start our own support services like a web site, someone ealrier said something about helpping struggling groups....that would be something cool to start

GrouchoTheCat

And this site is..........

tiburon88

Thanx Groucho I never knew that chips/medallions were a relatively new tradition.

Tazman53

Tib chips/medallions are crazy in the way they vary from place to place and meeting to meeting.

In my area we give out chips for every month up to a year, then a 18 month chip, then years there after.

My sponsor got sober in Ca. and they gave out 90 day, 6 months, & then years after that.

I went to a meeting in Assateague and your first chip is a white poker chip, then I think at 90 days you got a blue poker chip, and then for every year after you got a red poker chip.

The whole chip deal was started for nothing more then a visible way of giving a new comer hope.

What kind of hope would a new comer see in AA if no one shared the date of their last drink?

I know I would have found no hope in the rooms in my early sobriety if no one shared their sobriety date.

Emimily

i just gave my two shiny one-year medallions to two of my good friends in the rooms... my buddy j picked up one last month, and my BFF j-me picked up one last night. i got to pass along chips that were given to me by my sponsor and my very close friend to two kids i love very much. what an honor, to be sobor and get to give someone you love a chip for being sober with you.

as for the other ones, they're in a tootsie roll change bank on my dresser.

Astro

This is a great thread. Thanks Pink!

I keep my current 2 year AA chip and my 6 month CoDA chip in my pocket as a token of reassurance to myself of the gifts of recovery. The rest of my chips are in a dresser drawer, they'll go to sponsees as they hit their month and year marks.

Fluttering

i pass on my chips to others.

All we really have is just today...Tho I may have many 24 hours bejhind me I also know I am only arm's length away from the next drink or drug..I understand what Taz said about the Kings & Quenns...I too have met many of them...They teach me to remain humble and grateful. Each and every thing I have has not been of my own doing...I still feel at times so undeserving..in that undeserving place I find just how much love and compassion my Hp has for me.
Because all this was so freely given to me...it is an honor as well as a responsibility to pass it on.

Peter

i keep mine in a cigar box, but many of them i have given away to spnsees and newer members.

Signal30

I didn't even know what chips were until I went to a meeting in Florida, (I live in Ohio). When I first saw a white plastic chip, I was wondering when the dealer was gonna deal 7 card stud...lol.

The part of Ohio where I live we call them coins, (medallions). I've yet to go to a meeting around where I live and see those plastic chips. Most meetings give out the brass coins every 1, 3, 6, 9 month, 1 year, and then every year after that.

As far as what I do with my coins, I give them to the guy I sponsor, when his anniverseries come up, (My sponsee just celebrated 3 months.) Even though I obviouslly know it takes alot more than luck to stay sober, I like to think that the coins that I've had have some good luck to them.


Tom

Aa_vark

i used to pile them on my shoulder and dare someone to knock them off...



kidding.
Well, sort of.. reminded me of something else...

I have one set , up till 8 months, in a tobaco can.

My one was given me by a dear friend, I'll always save that.

my 2 was given my by a stranger at a meeting, as that group was out of "2"s' s that month... Good group by the way..,,, 2's flying out the door left and right!

My three is brand new.

I was thinking of passing them on, in the future.

this month at my home group, someone is gettting a 26!