Exercise in Reaching Out
 

Now, I don't mean exercise like aerobics or anything. This is low impact exercise! When we're too proud to ask for help, we often fail to see how many hands are outstretched to help us out. We reach out to others, pride falls away. We can heal the sick. We can calm the rage. We can support those who have fallen.

It takes courage to reach out. When we help others, we're actually helping ourselves.

Won't you help me help others? Let's reach out and make a difference.
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Image © Jeff Sheppard 2004

Asking for help is so hard! Why is that? It is so much easier for me to give.

I try to make a call when I don't need help- that seems help make it easier to make the call when I do. As with everything else.... practice, practice, practice.

If you don't regularly reach out to different threads, newcomers, old regulars, those having a bad day, those having a good day, then you are missing out. The best way to help yourself stay sober is by giving back and helping someone else. It could be as simple as getting something off the bottom shelf for someone who can't get down there. On SR it can be as easy as sending a smiley face.

:) Thanks, Midas!

Thanks, Midas!

And sometimes we're afraid to reach out for fear of rejection. Fear is a major obstacle that must be overcome by believing in yourself. Pain is real. Emotional pain sometimes hurts us more than any physical harm can. It scars us for years.

When I reach out, I touch other's hearts. I heal myself through that love. Only until very recently, I realized this. Sometimes it means that I also feel their pain.

Together, we can walk through the difficulties.

Great post Barry!

Fear can be so imposing that it prevents us from doing the things we need to do and living the life we are capable of living.

Reaching out can always make a difference.

Reaching out is the most difficult thing to do, especially when u are used to be knocked back, judged, called seeking attention, or when u feel ur not worth the time of day...but actually reaching out takes so much courage, strength...I wish everyday that I had the strength to reach out in the real world....

Lost Child,

You are reaching out and we hear you. There are lots of people here who felt just as lost as you do now. Take a look around and read and be inspired. You can do this!

This is an awesome post Midas! I'm so bad about reaching out when I'm in pain, hurting, or confused. It's an inspiration to read this.

If there's one thing I love most about sobriety though it's helping others, giving it away so I can keep it.

I agree; it's so important to reach out to others. When it comes down to it, we all have such similar pain that it would really be a shame if we didn't reach out. It's always interesting to me how alike people really are. We generally have similar fears and we can help each other overcome these obstacles.

My friend! Lost Child

You are reaching out and we are real! Even though you might not see us but we re here. Here is me and the next one is Chance. Remember you said in my thread that I gave myself a Chance more than that SR stuck with me in a lot of hard times. If a dope fien like me can do this deal Just For Today, anyone can do it. Barry has done it, I have done it and you can do it also

This is me don't laugh :lmao

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This is my Chance

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Reaching out, unless one can reach out for help they can never recover, I stayed drunk until I reached out, now I am sober, happy, joyous and free! The only way I can now stay sober is by givinig away what I have as much as I can!

In AA I haved learned just how true the statement is that "You can not keep what you have unless you give it away freely!"

The hands of so many are there just waiting for some one in need to reach out and take it.

Chance made a good point - we are real. It took a lot of time and a lot of posts for me to really reach out and recognize that everyone here is real and are sharing things that they are really experiencing. I used to think it was just names on a board - I was so far removed from reality and society.
I've got friends here today - real honest-to-goodness friends!
Chance you're adorable - no, not the dog! You! Okay, you're both adorable!

Sometimes in our lives, we all need help.

Reach out a hand, and someone will care,

they'll help you carry on..........

Reach out, take my hand, share your heart.

It will come back ten fold, love and hope.

Hope3

it's hard to fall when you are holding hands!




here are mine, reaching out to you...

I had to reach out again at the meeting tonight! At least I can do that today! Yep there is a lot of POWER IN REACHING OUT!

With Love and Respect

Vic

My hand is out- I'll grab on :grouphug:

Reaching out is so helpful to other people. Everyone needs a helping hand once in awhile. This board has been great for that.

what an interesting thread for me right now. I throroughly suck at reaching out. I usually whine a bit and try to cover it up with other issues and pretend I"m not hurting in the way I really am.

I want to call my sponsor that I haven't called in 4 months. Am I obsessing over it and making it more than it is, or do I really need to call her for a reason. I don't know. I'm afraid of rejection or not knowing why I"m calling or saying something stupid.

c'est, you dont need a reason to call your sponser... just call, and say... so, how are you doing?... simple as that...

give it a whril, wad'a ya got to loose...

drat, i'm reaching out to imageshack ... i mistakenly deleted my registration link...arg!

http://www.feebleminds-gifs.com/bdy3.gif this will do in a pinch, hugh barry...

with all love and blessings to those in recovery and all the stil sick and suffering...

rz

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"Reaching For the Mystical Healing Orb Thingy"

(Not an original image, but seriously retouched with photoshop)

for me, i was always terrified of reaching out, because it meant admiting that i had a problem i could not handle on my own....that i was not the strong capable woman everyone thought i was.......

i was shaking the first time i posted here......it was the very first time that i had put into words that i was not ok....that i was an addict and my grief from my recent loss was more than i could handle.......i'm the strong one, you know? the one who is there for everyone else........

reaching out is so hard.......but it can change your life.....free you in a way you can't imagine......let you know that you are not alone, and you don't have to face your burdens by yourself......

I really need some help here right now. I am feeling so betrayed right now and don't know which action to take. I am hoping that I can turn this over but I feel as if now I am not going to be able to share as much here at SR. Damn still problems of my own making. I wish sometimes that I would learn a lesson. Now, what am I suppose to do :dunno

What's going on, Vic? I'm here if you need to vent.

love you **{ayla}}


vic--don't give up on us now. take my hand...

Vic!?

Doing better today, I PMed someone and talked with them! Anonymity is something precious to me and maybe others just don't realize what or how it affects others when they go around and break it. One lesson is to NEVER let anyone from your hometown know that you are a member of a website. I will stay and learn! :)

I'm glad you got things sorted out, Vic. You had me worried there.

One must remain constantly vigilant to secure one's own safety! Be Careful.

I appreciate this thread. I too have fear about reaching out to people and asking for help. I can welcome the newcomers at meetings and if someone asks for help, I try to help in any way I can. But when I need help, I find it so so hard to reach out and pick up the phone. My sponsor has been trying to help me with this and wants me to call at least one person a day...but I feel paralyzed with fear. What do I say? Am I bothering them? What are we going to talk about?

I'm glad you brought this up hopeOct31, I can identify with the whole 'what do I say?' - it's gotten easier, though, as time has gone by and I've walked through the fear a couple of times. Even by calling and saying 'my sponsor wants me to call someone in the program every day and I'm scared to do this, but here I am, calling you anyway!' it might be a good icebreaker and put you both at ease.
I'm glad you found us.

Rowan