Ever Wonder...
Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Hereford, UK
Posts: 87
Sometimes I have a fleeting pang to think of what might have been if I have sobered up earlier -- that I might have had a child, that I might have been there for a friend when she was dying -- but as Carol says, the transformation in sobering up just fills me with thankfulness that I am sober today and able to live a life far richer and more satisfying than any daydreams I ever imagined.
Sobriety is an adventure and the Promises are real. I would never have believed that and now I know it from my own experience.
Still amazed
Mala
Sobriety is an adventure and the Promises are real. I would never have believed that and now I know it from my own experience.
Still amazed
Mala
I have seen a few comments about what an old timer is.....
I feel an old timer (or long timer) here at SR is anyone with more then a year sober.
Now when it comes to AA it depends upon the area and I can only speak for my own area, for the most part the concensus is one becomes an old timer once they have 25+ years of continuous sobriety.
We have tons of folks with 1-5 years, quite a few with 5-20 years. I know personally at least 6 people in AA with over 30 years sober, I have met one person with 49 years and another with 50 years sober in AA.
Does years sober equal good sobriety? Not from what I have seen both here and in AA. There are folks both here and in AA that seem angry, bitter, depressed, and argumentative with over a year sober, there are folks both here and in AA that are happy & supportive with less then a year sober.
It has been my experience that length of time sober does not mean much when all one wants to do is argue rather then offer support by sharing their ES & H.
I feel an old timer (or long timer) here at SR is anyone with more then a year sober.
Now when it comes to AA it depends upon the area and I can only speak for my own area, for the most part the concensus is one becomes an old timer once they have 25+ years of continuous sobriety.
We have tons of folks with 1-5 years, quite a few with 5-20 years. I know personally at least 6 people in AA with over 30 years sober, I have met one person with 49 years and another with 50 years sober in AA.
Does years sober equal good sobriety? Not from what I have seen both here and in AA. There are folks both here and in AA that seem angry, bitter, depressed, and argumentative with over a year sober, there are folks both here and in AA that are happy & supportive with less then a year sober.
It has been my experience that length of time sober does not mean much when all one wants to do is argue rather then offer support by sharing their ES & H.
Guest
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Birmingham, AL
Posts: 1,924
Taz,
You know as well as I do that arguing is good for the soul. Please do not make the mistake of judging others outsides to your insides. We are all Alcoholic by our own individual admissions and while no one is truly more well than another, some can be sicker than another. Hell, I am sicker than most.
You know as well as I do that arguing is good for the soul. Please do not make the mistake of judging others outsides to your insides. We are all Alcoholic by our own individual admissions and while no one is truly more well than another, some can be sicker than another. Hell, I am sicker than most.
My thoughts are expressed best in the promises By working the Steps I have found this to be true in my life. Our regrets are addressed in Steps Four through Nine. In Steps Four and Five we reinterpret our past. In Steps Six and Seven we position ourselves for the removal of those character defects that have caused our problems. In Steps Eight and Nine we repair the damage we have done. These steps transform our painful past into a useful spiritual tool.
....We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.......
Alcohol is not the problem, it did not create the problem and the removal of it did not fix the problem either.
It's alcoholism-> Me. my mind, body and spirit are all sick, adding alcohol just brought the symptoms into a little clearer light.
It's alcoholism-> Me. my mind, body and spirit are all sick, adding alcohol just brought the symptoms into a little clearer light.
Do any of you older members ever wonder how differently your lives may have turned out if you had never discovered alcohol? Such retrospection can be very depressing. In my case alcohol was very much a part of my life since I was a teenager and was an integral part of every family gathering including weddings and funerals that I can remember. Going to bars was probably my major source of entertainment throughout the years. It's just crazy how we integrate alcohol into our lives and almost become spectators as it slowely does its damage affecting every area of our lives robbing us of ever achieving our full potential. You can never go back and undo the damage and trail of wreckage it has left behind so you tend to remember the good times you had with your old friend alcohol while storing away the trail of devestation it has caused somewhere in the back of your mind. It's crazy that even to this day even though I'm no longer drinking there are still pleasurable thoughts associated with alcohol, after all if we didn't enjoy it why would we have ever done it? Such introspection can be very mind-boggling and to even associate the substance with pleasure seems to defy all rational explanation yet many of us still do. Don't know if this makes sense to anyone but it's something I often think about.
Like the mother forgets the pain of childbirth so too my mind seemed to close out the pain from my drinking, remembering only the elusive pleasures of the "golden years of alcohol"
In spite of my alcoholism my life is truly blessed today but i would never want my children to have to go through what I went through to find blessings.
Taz,
You know as well as I do that arguing is good for the soul. Please do not make the mistake of judging others outsides to your insides. We are all Alcoholic by our own individual admissions and while no one is truly more well than another, some can be sicker than another. Hell, I am sicker than most.
You know as well as I do that arguing is good for the soul. Please do not make the mistake of judging others outsides to your insides. We are all Alcoholic by our own individual admissions and while no one is truly more well than another, some can be sicker than another. Hell, I am sicker than most.
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