10+ year thread
 

Hello
I was wondering if it was possible for a thread for folks with 10+ plus years.

Something for folks that are beyond the first year itch and something to chat about on where long term sobriety has brought you and what you are doing now in sobriety. (No insult intended to someone with less time)

One can chat about success', things that have or have not worked from what one has learned in sobriety, hobbies and interests, etc.

This might give some newcomers information on what people have done to arrive at that time frame and inspire them to continue their journey.

Any takers? Feel free to let me know what you think.

Stay well and best wishes.

Hi there.

For me, hearing from 10+ AA members was inspirational. It showed me there was a long term solution to my problems. I guess that is one of the advantages of AA, you can find people who have put the program to the test over an extended period and it has worked.

The best thing though was seeing them in person. I remember one member who had been sober 12 years when I first heard him share. He was about the same age as me when he got sober. I was sat in the back, a hopeless case, hair, beard, skin and bone, barely able to string a sentence together, and here was this man who had been just like me. Now I could see he was brimming with confidence, he looked happy and satisfied with life, h dressed well, had a great job, he had been transformed. I met him again a couple of weeks ago. he has just turned 70 and has 45 years continuous sobriety.

I listened to that man and did what he and others suggested, and the same thing happened to me. The main thing was to try and practice these principles in all my affairs. In respect of meetings, sometimes I was very active and at others none at all. It was never the meetings that kept me sober. It was my relationship with the God of my understanding, and my willingness at anytime to help my fellow alcoholics.

Every area of my life was changed. I had no school qualifications, yet I rose to senior management levels in nationa companies. I owned a restaurant for a couple of years and got a mention as a chef in a cook book. I started and built up another busienss of which I still owne half. But now I am semi retired and live on my boat.

I met and married a beautifual lady and we had two wonderful children together, a boy age 21, and a daughter now 18. Neither of them is at all like me when I was their age. They are just amazing, well adjusted confident kids.

There have been low spots too, as Bill warned in the Big Book. I got sacked when I was about 6 weeks sober, and had all my gear stolen. There were others in early sobriety but none made me drink. I lost my father, then my sponsor and the thought of drinking never came up. The drink problem had been removed, as per the step 10 promises.

Then 7 years ago my wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer. We did everything suggested by way of treatment and nursing and managed to keep her with us for another two years. She died just short of our 20th wedding anniversary. I found I was able to handle the situation and do what a good husband ought to do, take care of her and the children - not even a single thought of alcohol. It sure is a recipe for living in rough going.

I continue to work with others and, now that I have more time, I spend more time in meetings looking for others I can help.

A long time back there was a big shift in my relationship withh AA. I went there as a taker, for help with my problems and the folks I found gave freely of their experience strength and hope.

I have found it is not possible to be happily sober and remain a taker, and I shudder when I hear the expression "take what you like and leave the rest", it misses the whole point. I took the steps, had and still have spiritual experiences and they have resulted in a radical change in my outlook and personality. Sufficient to enable me to recover from alcholism.

I have become a giver, not only in AA but in all areas. I love helping others, it is immensely rewarding and satisfying. It didn't take 10 years to experience this, i began to feel it immediately the stepswere taken, which was in months, not years.

That this thread exists is an awesome inspiration... Thanks OP and Mike...

I'll have 24 yrs in AA in July.

Went to 2 meetings today. A great 3rd Step table this morning (8 of us... total sobriety nearly 200 yrs) and a 1st Step table tonight with 2 newcomers.

All the best.

Bob R

My only post on this thread is that I look forward to reading it every day. :)

I got sober in November 1981. I had just turned 22 and 23 was a long shot if things continued as they were going. When I woke up that day in November getting sober was the last thing on my mind, but life had something else in store for me. Everything has changed since that day.

What I did today was enjoy a spectacularly brilliant summer day, did some work for a few clients and even got a little nap in before I went a meeting. It was my home group's open speaker meeting and I was asked to be the leader. The first speaker is a man I've watched get sober over the past year and the second speaker is my best friend of 27 years who I met doing service at NYC Intergroup. At the end of a meeting I spoke to a man attending his first meeting and let him know there's help if he wants it.

What I do now is not any different than what I've always done. Go to a meeting, do step work, service in and outside of AA and try to be the hand of AA when someone asks for help.

-allan

Thanks for sharing, you old-timers!

Looking forward to more.

if I follow in ya'lls footsteps, i'lll be there!!!

I got sober June 7, 1981. Yes in 3 days it will be 32 years. Without AA and yes Alanon my life these past 32 years would not be possible. In sobriety I did come to find out I also had a BIG codependency problem.

I can tell you that in sobriety the Sky is the limit. You can do and accomplish anything you want to.

I went back to school at 43 and got my Nursing degree and license at 44 1/2. I added to that degree in the following years so that I could be a PA (Physicians Assistant) and/or a CNP (Certified Nurse Practitioner).

At 65, once I retired I got my pilot's license. (Something I had always, since 18 years old wanted to do). It is VFR (Visual Flight Rules only) which means I can only fly in daylight hours, so ............................. am continuing on and will hopefully take the tests and do my solo before the end of this year to get my IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) which will then allow me to fly anytime.

I have traveled abroad quite a bit over the years. Have done 13 trips to OZ each one ranging from 6 weeks to 3 months, and with luck after I get my IFR will be doing my 14th trip late this fall to OZ and will then be able to 'rent' a plane to do some of the 'city hopping' I want to do before spending the rest of my time in my beloved Alice Springs.

I share this to show you just the 'tip of the iceberg' what is possible in sobriety. None of it would have ever been possible, I would have been DEAD!!!

Once I found abstinence, then I had to do the WORK on me required to make me an active and productive member of the human race. That required a lot of deep digging and very hard WORK, but it is possible for everyone that WANTS recovery, that WANTS to live sober.

Thank you (((((LNC15))))) for starting this thread, I do believe there are going to be some very very interesting shares!!!

Love and hugs,

Hello
Wow, I did not expect so many responses to this thread this quick!
Awesome!
Well, I am at the 18.5 mark. I am not really a number thumper, as I believe it is the quality of sobriety as well as the time.
I have experienced a couple of different forms of recovery. I like the concept of rational recovery best and found it has changed perspectives in many ways.
Fact to Face meetings are better in my opinion, yet the cyber folks are pretty good and at least there is a place to meet online.
With the many obstacles i have faced, I continue to move forward. Some hurdles have brought more challenges, yet there are no time limits on jumping the hurdles. There is no situation that is worth drinking/drugging over. It is just not wort it to let a poor behavior worsen a situation.
I wish everyone the best and much success.

My last drink was on December 24, 1977 almost one month short of my 18th birthday. Many, many AA and NA meetings in the beginning. Got a sponsor for both, got a home group, got involved, and worked the steps.

Got my GED, started taking college classes, and eventually got in full time. Found it impossible to work two programs so I just stuck with AA after a few years. Graduated, marriage, carrier, then after a few years of fun and travel, kids.

My two girls are both in college now, so I'm working a lot of overtime at work. Still get to one or two meetings a week. Wish I had more time for service work but a nice retirement is in site, so, I'll keep doing what I'm doing.

I still remember when I had to carry a couple of dimes in my pocket in case I needed to make a call at a pay phone. It's nice to be able to reach out to anywhere in the world these days with a smart phone.

wow, thanks for sharing!

AA kept me alive and growing and I was able to retire at 65 (turned 69 last Friday).

I attend 5-6 meetings a week now and life has never been better.

Working on my spirituality .... reading "The Tao of Pooh" right now. :c033:

All the best.

Bob R

What I have learned in AA first got me sober in 1999, but the "life lessons" have been a foundation upon which I have built that sober life. The fact that I am not what everything is all about, the idea that I don't control every outcome, and the fact that I need to do the work if I am to get results has been an invaluable blue print for living life.

Jon

okay, feeling free to let you know what i think:
great idea!

i'm between six and seven years and if you people keep this thread going, it's something for me to look forward to joining!

I think it’s a very good idea.

I’ll be back again in 25 days to put a towel on a deckchair.

I've been sober for 30 years, but I've had something of a love/hate relationship with AA. I bought the "90 meetings in 90 days" and did a lot more than that; got that I was an alcoholic and became willing to go to any lengths. But I didn't relate well to the literature. It sounded like it was advocating stuffing our feelings instead of working with them, plus the traditional spirituality just didn't take.

What happened was I got into service. Then I got into Buddhism. Then I got into therapy. It also helped to find more current literature; since I went back and forth between pot and alcohol, it was easier to relate to. And it all took a lot of work.

I still go to AA, and I'm honest about "what it was like, what happened, and what it's like now." But many think AA literature is sacrosanct, and can be quite hostile. I just read how dangerous detoxing on your own can be in some cases, and that's another thing the literature doesn't have.

Which is why my Buddhist place is more important to my recovery than AA. They're okay with having questions and being honest.

I don't mean to put down the literature; it helps a lot of people. But meanwhile a lot of people come in who can't relate to it, and they usually go back out. Certainly would be nice if there was another book around that more people could relate to.

I said exactly the same thing in my first few weeks after I had read the book for the first time. In my opinion it was too "American" and needed to be rewritten in a more Kiwi friendly way.

In actual fact I had read it like a novel and completely missed the point that it was a text book to be studied and learned from. Not very controversial at the time as many in the fellowship back then thought the Big book outdated.

Apart from the first page "How many thousands of men and women have recovered from alcoholism" and parts of the Doctor's opinion, I didn't relate either. It might as well have been written in chinese. the problem was I had no experience of what they were talking about. The positive things described, say, in the 9th step promises meant nothing to me because they were beyond my experience.

My experience up to that point was that sobriety was crap, nothing like happy joyous and free.

So I went to a book I did relate to - "Living Sober". Very useful. My sponsor stuck with the big book approach and took me through the steps.

I then began to experience what they were talking about in the Big Book. For me understanding came after the action, not before. Over time I have come to relate very much to the Big Book . I can see the truth in it. It describes my experiences very well, since taking the steps.

My experience in sobriety is so different to anything I had experienced before getting sober, that it was impossible for me to relate to or understand the program of AA, as laid out in the Big Book, in advance.

What was needed was a sufficiently open mind and enough blind faith to try taking the action as suggested. This I was willing to do.

HI
there are many interesting concepts and discussions.
I too could not relate to the BB, and I am from the States! It was just not for me.
I have been reading more on some REBT sites about that. Well, at least is is something that i found most folks can relates to or identify with.
I do enjoy this thread.

What a wonderful idea for a thread. Very inspiring :) There are people here who have been sober since I was born (1981!). Without people like you all we wouldn't know it was possible so thanks for being here :)