Don S

Ya know, maybe I'm a little hypersensitive on this subject after watching my mother go through throat cancer after a lifetime of smoking, but I do not understand how people who believe that alcohol consumption is a progressive, invariably fatal disease can POSSIBLY smoke cigarettes! Don't you see the irony?

Great post otherwise! Thanks for sharing your viewpoint.

Don S

Don S

Well, to answer your question you could try to figure out what alcohol provides that you find--or once found--beneficial and then find other ways to achieve those benefits. Or you could figure out what you're hiding from by drinking, and face those things.
But don't wait to figure out all that stuff before quitting! (I realize you've quit; I'm using "you" in the general sense here...). Quit first, quit now, quit immediately. Take that action. Stop drinking and the motivation will follow.

Presumably if we are regularly ingesting a central nervous system depressant, albeit one which descends irregularly, we find something about that useful or pleasurable. At least at first. Since we're dosing our brain every day with a drug, it might be useful to understand (1) what that drug does to us, immediately and over time, and (2) why we are doing it. I'm not sure why people would dismiss this part of getting sober. Perhaps it is that we won't like the answers we find, but that doesn't make them less useful....

Turn "why?" into "why not?" and give yourself plenty of good reasons, then recite them daily. Murmur them, sing them, shout them. Drill them into your brain. There's a reason most religions and teaching techniques use chants: it's a way of forcing ideas deep into the cerebellum, so we can call on them when we need them.
Don S

Chy

Awesome Music ! I pray that I too can one day say it's been 26 years of sobriety! Your my inspiration today!

Music

Stop drinking and the motivation will follow.


I agree with your post in general Don, but motivation from who, from what, from where? The only motivation I had when I came to AA was I didn't want to continue the way I was going. How to stop that progression....I didn't have a clue. I needed some positive stimulation from people I knew had achieved or were working to achieve what I "thought" I wanted. I didn't even know that that's what I wanted. I didn't know anything except the existence of the Four Horsemen. They were my best friends and I knew how to control them. More booze.
I believe the first step in overcoming a problem is to identify the problem. Ok...I thought alcohol was my problem. I found out later that I was my problem. Hell, I'm still my own worst problem and I haven't had to drink for a long time.
Motivation is the key to achieving any goal. I get up every morning at 0400 and am in the gym by 0530 to work out for a couple hours. My goal isn't to set records but to stay in shape, look good and feel good. The motivation was 15 years ago when I got this idiotic idea about joining a gym, and met up with some people who I learned to love and respect, but who were "examples" of what working out could do to and for a person if they stuck to it. Those same people are still a part of my life and we still keep each other motivated. Sounds kind of like the folks in AA to me.
Have a great day Don and don't forget to chant/pray.

Music

Peter and Chy,
I'm sorry, I feel like of ignored your congrats on the 26 years. I appreciate your thoughts but I want you to know, as well as the rest of you who may read these posts, that even though my ego tells me I could have figured it all out anyway, I know in my heart that I couldn't have quit for one day let alone two days without the help of all of you in AA and my Higher Power...God!
My sponsor keeps things in perspective for me. He says, "Congratulations on your 26 years." "Now you only have one more day."
Morning Glory, all I figured out was that the reason it was time to drink is that somewhere in my drugged brain matter, I thought taking a drink seemed like a good idea. I heard once that alcohol gives us wings and then takes away the sky. That's true with me. I thought when I was drinking I had the world by the ass. In reality, I couldn't have found my own ass with both hands and a map.
The "fellowship" of AA, both men and women, showed me the results of trusting in God and working the AA steps. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here. 26 years is a long time but sometimes even with me, one day can seem like an eternity.
Thank you all.

mahitabel

Sorry, guys. It is not that I recommend smoking, I don't; (I quit in '87) but If I had to choose to drink or smoke, I'd go for the cig. I never got arrested for smoking while driving. On the other hand, quitting smoking was harder than getting sober for me. I was a total maniac for nearly a year. I am glad I quit and fortunate that I am still sober. For me it will always be soberity first.