Mikoss' Thread
Member
Join Date: Feb 2020
Posts: 353
Hi everyone, yes today I am 34 days clean and sober.
Thanks to my sponsor who is an incredible sponsor and an incredible person and musician apart from being a fantastic sponsor to me, I have been able to work the 12 steps of AA and work the program and stay sober and work on recovery since sobriety and recovery are two very different things.
I still attend meetings all over the world, but I had cut back on the AA, CA, and NA meetings since my sponsor has told me, "Meetings can kill you." What I mean by that is that sometimes in AA, CA, or NA meetings people say a lot of things that sound good but have nothing to do with the program or the 12 steps. Going to meetings is not real sobriety as my sponsor told me. They are fun and people share and you can listen to speakers and so forth but meeting based sobriety is not real sobriety. Working the 12 steps and working the program and being of service is sobriety and recovery.
Anyways, I am on a phone call right now and will talk more later.
Thanks to my sponsor who is an incredible sponsor and an incredible person and musician apart from being a fantastic sponsor to me, I have been able to work the 12 steps of AA and work the program and stay sober and work on recovery since sobriety and recovery are two very different things.
I still attend meetings all over the world, but I had cut back on the AA, CA, and NA meetings since my sponsor has told me, "Meetings can kill you." What I mean by that is that sometimes in AA, CA, or NA meetings people say a lot of things that sound good but have nothing to do with the program or the 12 steps. Going to meetings is not real sobriety as my sponsor told me. They are fun and people share and you can listen to speakers and so forth but meeting based sobriety is not real sobriety. Working the 12 steps and working the program and being of service is sobriety and recovery.
Anyways, I am on a phone call right now and will talk more later.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2020
Posts: 239
Great update. How are you feeling now? Probably still rough when under 2 months, but has got to be a wonderful to have made it this far. Congratulations. Is your sponsor the same one you had before who was a musician? Are you able to meet him now in person or has covid virus still got you doing it all through zoom?
Member
Join Date: Feb 2020
Posts: 353
Thanks so much. I am feeling okay but I have my ups and downs but overall I am doing well. I am at 44 days clean and sober today.
Yes, my sponsor is a musician. I actually have 3 sponsors at the moment. But my main sponsor is a very accomplished musician. He is actually a very famous and legendary musician. And my other sponsor is the lead singer of a famous rock band. My other sponsor is an artist as well who does painting and other mediums. All of them with different styles of sponsorship but they all know each other and talk to each other and are pretty much on the same page as far as their views of the Alcoholics Anonymous program and the 12 steps and recovery. I feel truly blessed to have the sponsors that I have. My main sponsor is awesome. He sort of took me under his wing to be my sponsor and give me the knowledge an wisdom that I need in Alcoholics Anonymous to work the 12 steps and the program. The fact that he is a very accomplished and famous and legendary musician is just an added bonus so we can speak of music as well so we have that connection as well. He helps me learn each day not just about music but recovery as well and I fell truly blessed to have him in my life.
The other guy I had mentioned Lines is a musician and he was wanting to be my sponsor but he was way too preachy and just got on my nerves and I just couldn't work with him. We still talk but he is not my active sponsor at the moment.
But my main sponsor, he and I speak on the phone every day and we also do private Zoom meetings as well. We go over the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous, and work the steps and the AA program of recovery. Also I speak to my other 2 sponsors on the phone as well or via private Zoom meetings. It a fellowship of alcoholics. A spiritual fellowship of one alcoholic helping another to work the 12 steps.
But one thing my sponsors taught me is that without working this 12 step program of Alcoholics Anonymous there is no real recovery. Sobriety and recovery are 2 very different things. Meaning that without working a 12 step program, just not drinking and going to AA meetings or CA meetings or NA meetings and staying clean and sober is not real sobriety. That is just meeting based sobriety or just simply going to meetings. What is also known as untreated alcoholism or a dry drunk. For instance when someone in a meeting has 30 days or 60 days of sobriety and they ask them in the meeting, "How did you do it?" And that person simply responds, "Well I went to a few AA meetings today and I didn't pick up a drink or use a drug today." And people clap their hands in the meeting and say, "Well done !! You are doing great !! One day at a time. Fantastic job !!" And while that is all good that is not real sobriety if they are not working a program of recovery. Anybody can just choose not to drink or use. But a plan of recovery is needed as well and that is where the 12 steps and the program come into play. Without a program which is working the 12 steps, the chance of relapse as my sponsor said is not just likely but almost guaranteed. But if I stick to the program and work the 12 steps, call my sponsors every day, read the big book, and give the AA program 100% and follow the program precisely, then my chance of relapse is nill. It takes work every day.
Another thing that is great about working with my sponsors is that I can go to AA meetings or CA meetings or NA meeting and filter out the garbage. My sponsors teach me about the big book and the program and if it is not in the big book or part of the 12 step program then pretty much the rest is garbage. Stuff that people say in meetings that sounds good but is not in the big book and people are like oh yeah wow that sounds good and sounds intelligent and must be true. And I can say, "Really, where do you get this information that you speak of from? What part of the big book does it say that, I am curious??? Please give me your sources of where you read what you just said in this meeting." Or when I go to AA meetings and all I hear is people talk about how crappy their day was or how they felt depressed or they got angry because someone cut them off in traffic or their dog passed away or whatever and although it is good that people vent and get these things off their chest that stuff really has nothing do do with recovery or working the 12 step program or sobriety and I can avoid these meetings. As my sponsor said, "Meetings can kill you." Meaning things that are said in meetings that are not helpful as far as recovery and the 12 step program are not really beneficial at all. Don't get me wrong, I go to cross talk meetings where it is more of a party than a meeting but that is the format of the meeting and we already know what is expected in that meeting such as arguing, cross talk, shouting, yelling, cussing, fighting, name calling, insulting each other, etc. with hardly any mention of the big book or the 12 steps but we already know what is expected in that meeting and I like those meetings as well because there is a time and place for those type of meetings as well even though they are not for everyone but I as well as others like those meetings too.
But my point is that in this AA program it is program of action. A program of recovery. We have to realize we have a problem. And there is a solution. But we have to know the problem first before we can find the solution. What I mean is that in AA you learn that there are two type of drinkers, there is the heavy drinker and the true alcoholic, the real alcoholic. A lot of people don't know the difference between just a heavy drinker and the real alcoholic. The real alcoholic that has the phenomenon of craving. A craving that no matter what they cannot stop drinking. That is a real alcoholic versus just a heavy drinker that can stop drinking on their own. Anyways, going back to the program of recovery and action. Once we realize that we have a problem and we are an alcoholic/addict, then we can find the solution. And in AA there is a solution and someone has the solution. We just have to get that solution to our problem of alcoholism/addiction. That is where the sponsor comes in to show us the steps they took, the 12 steps, in a spiritual program of recovery of one alcoholic to another. That is what the fellowship is all about. Because without a recovery program, just not drinking is simply just that, not drinking or using a drug. That is not real sobriety and simply just not drinking or using. It takes work every day and working the 12 steps to reduce the chance of relapse. It is a simple program with simple steps and it just takes following the steps precisely and with 100% and not 50% or sometimes or maybe today and tomorrow I take a break or I want to just do some work and skip this other stuff. No, it takes 100% work every day in working the steps and following the program of recovery. And this is what my sponsors have taught me.
Yes, my sponsor is a musician. I actually have 3 sponsors at the moment. But my main sponsor is a very accomplished musician. He is actually a very famous and legendary musician. And my other sponsor is the lead singer of a famous rock band. My other sponsor is an artist as well who does painting and other mediums. All of them with different styles of sponsorship but they all know each other and talk to each other and are pretty much on the same page as far as their views of the Alcoholics Anonymous program and the 12 steps and recovery. I feel truly blessed to have the sponsors that I have. My main sponsor is awesome. He sort of took me under his wing to be my sponsor and give me the knowledge an wisdom that I need in Alcoholics Anonymous to work the 12 steps and the program. The fact that he is a very accomplished and famous and legendary musician is just an added bonus so we can speak of music as well so we have that connection as well. He helps me learn each day not just about music but recovery as well and I fell truly blessed to have him in my life.
The other guy I had mentioned Lines is a musician and he was wanting to be my sponsor but he was way too preachy and just got on my nerves and I just couldn't work with him. We still talk but he is not my active sponsor at the moment.
But my main sponsor, he and I speak on the phone every day and we also do private Zoom meetings as well. We go over the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous, and work the steps and the AA program of recovery. Also I speak to my other 2 sponsors on the phone as well or via private Zoom meetings. It a fellowship of alcoholics. A spiritual fellowship of one alcoholic helping another to work the 12 steps.
But one thing my sponsors taught me is that without working this 12 step program of Alcoholics Anonymous there is no real recovery. Sobriety and recovery are 2 very different things. Meaning that without working a 12 step program, just not drinking and going to AA meetings or CA meetings or NA meetings and staying clean and sober is not real sobriety. That is just meeting based sobriety or just simply going to meetings. What is also known as untreated alcoholism or a dry drunk. For instance when someone in a meeting has 30 days or 60 days of sobriety and they ask them in the meeting, "How did you do it?" And that person simply responds, "Well I went to a few AA meetings today and I didn't pick up a drink or use a drug today." And people clap their hands in the meeting and say, "Well done !! You are doing great !! One day at a time. Fantastic job !!" And while that is all good that is not real sobriety if they are not working a program of recovery. Anybody can just choose not to drink or use. But a plan of recovery is needed as well and that is where the 12 steps and the program come into play. Without a program which is working the 12 steps, the chance of relapse as my sponsor said is not just likely but almost guaranteed. But if I stick to the program and work the 12 steps, call my sponsors every day, read the big book, and give the AA program 100% and follow the program precisely, then my chance of relapse is nill. It takes work every day.
Another thing that is great about working with my sponsors is that I can go to AA meetings or CA meetings or NA meeting and filter out the garbage. My sponsors teach me about the big book and the program and if it is not in the big book or part of the 12 step program then pretty much the rest is garbage. Stuff that people say in meetings that sounds good but is not in the big book and people are like oh yeah wow that sounds good and sounds intelligent and must be true. And I can say, "Really, where do you get this information that you speak of from? What part of the big book does it say that, I am curious??? Please give me your sources of where you read what you just said in this meeting." Or when I go to AA meetings and all I hear is people talk about how crappy their day was or how they felt depressed or they got angry because someone cut them off in traffic or their dog passed away or whatever and although it is good that people vent and get these things off their chest that stuff really has nothing do do with recovery or working the 12 step program or sobriety and I can avoid these meetings. As my sponsor said, "Meetings can kill you." Meaning things that are said in meetings that are not helpful as far as recovery and the 12 step program are not really beneficial at all. Don't get me wrong, I go to cross talk meetings where it is more of a party than a meeting but that is the format of the meeting and we already know what is expected in that meeting such as arguing, cross talk, shouting, yelling, cussing, fighting, name calling, insulting each other, etc. with hardly any mention of the big book or the 12 steps but we already know what is expected in that meeting and I like those meetings as well because there is a time and place for those type of meetings as well even though they are not for everyone but I as well as others like those meetings too.
But my point is that in this AA program it is program of action. A program of recovery. We have to realize we have a problem. And there is a solution. But we have to know the problem first before we can find the solution. What I mean is that in AA you learn that there are two type of drinkers, there is the heavy drinker and the true alcoholic, the real alcoholic. A lot of people don't know the difference between just a heavy drinker and the real alcoholic. The real alcoholic that has the phenomenon of craving. A craving that no matter what they cannot stop drinking. That is a real alcoholic versus just a heavy drinker that can stop drinking on their own. Anyways, going back to the program of recovery and action. Once we realize that we have a problem and we are an alcoholic/addict, then we can find the solution. And in AA there is a solution and someone has the solution. We just have to get that solution to our problem of alcoholism/addiction. That is where the sponsor comes in to show us the steps they took, the 12 steps, in a spiritual program of recovery of one alcoholic to another. That is what the fellowship is all about. Because without a recovery program, just not drinking is simply just that, not drinking or using a drug. That is not real sobriety and simply just not drinking or using. It takes work every day and working the 12 steps to reduce the chance of relapse. It is a simple program with simple steps and it just takes following the steps precisely and with 100% and not 50% or sometimes or maybe today and tomorrow I take a break or I want to just do some work and skip this other stuff. No, it takes 100% work every day in working the steps and following the program of recovery. And this is what my sponsors have taught me.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2020
Posts: 353
I feel with my main sponsor like he is Master Yoda and I am like Luke Skywalker.
He even said to me something to the effect of I can see a special gift in you. You definitely have the gift not just musically but with your desire for recovery but you just need a little help and guidance to make you even better, sharper, and smarter and he told me he will teach me the tools to be better if I just let him and listen to his knowledge and learn from him. And I fell blessed that I am learning from pretty much like a grand master both musically and with recovery.
He even said to me something to the effect of I can see a special gift in you. You definitely have the gift not just musically but with your desire for recovery but you just need a little help and guidance to make you even better, sharper, and smarter and he told me he will teach me the tools to be better if I just let him and listen to his knowledge and learn from him. And I fell blessed that I am learning from pretty much like a grand master both musically and with recovery.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2020
Posts: 353
Also when I mentioned earlier in the first post, when I said that we have to know the problem first before we can seek the solution. What I mean by that and if you ever go to an AA meeting or are part of Alcoholics Anonymous you will hear people say, "Drinking and drugs were never my problem. Selfishness and self centerdness. That was my problem." What we learn is AA is that alcohol and drugs were never our problem. It was a problem of the mind. That seemingly hopeless state of mind and body as discussed in the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous. That alcoholic/addict mind of craving more and more and it is all about me, myself, and I and to heck with everybody else as long as I have my alcohol and drugs and the more the better. That selfishness and self centerness we talk a lot about in Alcoholics Anonymous.
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