Artifical

This is a quote from TazMan in another thread i was reading this morning:

Just wondering what else everyone else is doing to recover and improve their lives, other than obstaining from alcohol or drugs?

firestorm090

Wow, what a loaded question!!

What am I doing to stay sober and change my life??

Well, I've had to change damn near everything except my name, lol.

I've had to accept, (quite begrudgingly I might add, lol) that my way of living my life sucks, and I've been screwing it up for a long time. To me, the AA program is really very simple and that is to ask for help, clean up my affairs with others, and try to be the best person I can be today. Also, I have to live within my financial means, pay my bills on time instead of blowing my money at the bar, and accept that I'm no Elvis, no Don Won, no Pretty Boy Floyd, I'm just me, and actually that's ok today, I'll never be famous, nor will I be Donald Trump, or Bill Gates, I'm just another guy trying to find my way in life and staying sober helps me see the map alot easier.

However, I still may run for president, so keep your fingers crossed, lol. At least I hope to be sober if elected, lol.

shaun00

well.

im having my morning coffee then im gonna talk to someone that can take charge of my life today.

cos im naff at doing it.

myxomatosis

i have been restoring a 1975 schwinn. has kept me busy though the nights when i cant sleep. has been good for me so far.. but its just been 12 days, soo..

also i think i need something sweet, im craving like a mother right now

Tazman53

Artifical I hope you do not mind me answering this one...... LOL

I apply to the best of my ability daily all of the principles of the program of AA to all areas of my life.

I no longer try and steer the boat of my life, instead I row! I tried steering and rowing that boat at the same time for many years, never could keep the boat straight and row at the same time, I kept hitting things and the boat sprung a lot of leaks as I tried to maintain control.

It took me a lot of years, but I finally figured out that if I did not want my boat of life to sink, I needed to just start rowing and let some one with a lot more sense then me that cared for me steer the boat while I rowed. The fellow who steers the boat for me today is my HP, I call him God because it is easier to call him that, if I called him Fred people would ask a lot of questions, so I call Him God.

What I have found is that if I am working daily on becoming a better person and keeping my side of the street clean, making amends to those I have harmed and am willing to do daily the next right thing, if I think of others well being and happiness before my own, things go well for me, not exactly like I think they should happen all the time but just accept the cards dealt to me with out blowiing my top or trying to force things to be the way that make me happy, but instead the world happy, things go pretty well.

Here is the amazing thing, I have not had to fight the urge to drink in quite some time, I live my life in such a manner that the idea of a drink doing me any good does not even enter my mind.

Initially this took a lot of work and time on my part, but today it is becoming more and more natural for me.

This is all due to the program of AA and the fellowship of AA. Thanks to this I have a guiding force in my life that loves me, as long as I am listening to Him, things go well. Oh there are times when I do not listen still today, some times when I do not listen things go very wrong, other times they just do not go well.

You know, today when I look in the mirror the man looking back at me is an okay guy, yes he still has issues to work on, but for the most part he is a good person and some one I would like. Today I am a husband, a father, a grandfather, a good worker, and a part of my community that helps others.

Wolfchild

What are you doing to recover and improve your life, other than abstaining from alcohol or drugs?

eureka

My first step was detox. Now I am trying to live one day at a time. And when that doesn't work... One moment at a time.

bananagrrrl

I am working the steps with my sponsor and also spending a lot of time reading and in discovery of myself. I am meditating and praying a lot.

bugsworth

I am living my life as intended.....unfettered by alcohol. "Recovery" means different things to different people. I no longer live in fear of alcohol...sobriety gives us this gift.

bananagrrrl

Bugs, I was thinking about recovery and the fact that I really don't know what it means to me other than doing what my sponsor says and not drinking and not obsessing over the drink.

Is it more of a state of mind for some people?

Tazman53

Have you thought about recovering and living life to its fullest?

Yes when I first got out of detox it was at first a minute at a time, but in the rooms I learned what recovery is and I wanted that, I took the steps with a man who had recovered, this led me to a spiritual awakening, I have not fought alcohol in a long time.

Tazman53

No matter what ones definition of recovery is, it is a state of mind.

One that is recovered does not obsess for a drink any longer, drinking is no longer of any importance, but maintaining recovery is.

Artifical

Well im in my first week of being drug free, obviously I've stopped using, started reading self help books and removing temptation from the home and trying to see things differently and starting fitness again.

But is this what I need todo, is this recovery? doing things i've wanted todo for a long time, because thats what addiction was doing to me, stopping me from doing the things I wanted todo.

I sort of failed in a way already, because I found some tablets in work and rather than bin or forget about them, i looked on the net to see what they did... probablly with the intention of using them. Luckily there wasnt any recreationaly value in them. I failed to see what I was doin, does will power come?

bugsworth

Recovery means to return to a normal state of heath and mind. I do believe after a period of time we do return to a normal state, it is at this point when we make the decision to remain stagnant or live a purpose driven life. It may be a state of mind or it may just be a way of living. One does not have to live in recovery for a life time.

smacked

along my many first attempts at getting clean and sober I did just that.. I abstained from drugs/alcohol. Completely ignored anything addressing anything other than being clean and sober. It never lasted long.. I'd get high pretty soon, or drunk.. as soon as life hit me again, because I wasn't prepared with a new way to approach life as it was dealt to me.

Since then I have realized that abstinence and recovery are two completely different creatures. I would still be drunk and high if I hadn't taken a deeper look at my life and worked on recovery, and for me that meant finding help to understand some of the motivation for my using and drinking, and also learning new tools to approach life, new coping skills, responses, methods of anxiety relief, etc. I had to learn to grow up, and really live life.

Personally, I achieved this by going through a lot of counseling, relaxation training, reading, peer support.. and I guess chatting with folks here. So far so good, I'll have around 15 months here shortly,and I LOVE my life. I never ever obsess or even think about having a drink or a (fil in the blank here), and it's absolutely wonderful.

Tazman53

Very true, once recovered one can help others, be it helping others recover or simply helping those in need. I have recovered from a hopeless state of mind and body, today part of my remaining recovered is helping other alcoholics recover as well as being the best husband, father, employee, and member of my community I can be.

For me part of being recovered involves showing my gratitude for being recovered by helping others to recover.

The last thing I would ever dream of doing was to be so ungracious to those who helped me to recover to not pass on to others seeking to recover what was freely given to me by those who had also recovered.

Threshold

today has been a roller coaster. I woke up, wondered what fresh hell Sobriety had in store for me...it's been quite a revealing and painful week...and Sobriety (my HP) said that today we were going to look at one of the addictions I may not really be clean of...anorexia.

soooo...I've been writing on step one all week long...using questions I find online, etc. Today I applied them to anorexia. Wow....anorexia is tricky, because in the past I've been a compulsive OVER eater...and unlike substances and some other behaviors I engage in addictively (cutting) I can't just stop eating. So it can be pretty sneaky, and difficult to tell if I am really clean at any given time. Also, I am so freaked about going in the opposite direction...anyway, I digress.

So, I, listening to my HP instead of my own self, really went at step one with gusto and honesty and wow...what a lot of stuff I came head to head with. I just went with it, ended up yelling at the top of my voice for about 45 minutes...good thing the house was empty...of course it was the addict in my screaming, but hey, it needed to be heard...not followed, but heard.

then I let Sobriety put in a word or two...I calmed down, breathed, and reached out (the next step is live)...came here and opened a PM from another recovery...followed the link...got a dose of good sense and just what I needed to hear.

then came to this board to see what else my fellow addicts had to offer.

Had a sensible lunch, and am now sitting on my porch swing, in the sunshine, reading and posting, and digesting all the stuff that has happened today.

I am determined to stay sober, and work the steps.

Anorexia seems to be my biggest bugaboo right now. That is not one, apparently, that I am convinced my life would be better without. I don't know what to do with that right now. One by one all my other addictions...I was good about doing step one with, but this one...maybe I haven't hit bottom, but I know I am hanging on to it tooth and nail.

So, that is what I am doing. I am working my program, even when I go into meltdown, even when I uncover really scary, ugly and idiotic things about myself. Even when I encounter hurdles I have no idea how to get over. I have committed myself to recovery...so I let the addict scream, then let Sobriety have its say.

Sobriety says "keep working your program...no matter what."

Listening to folks with more time and experience than I is part of my program...so I am using online resources (homebound right now due to surgery), and the generous time people have offered me through chat, IM and PM's.

Reading and re reading AA, NA and other recovery literature. Writing in a journal several hours a day on the steps, recovery, etc. And most of all..NOT giving up, NOT giving in, and NOT using.

thanks for asking

Tazman53

Threshhold one of my daughters is a recovering anorexic, we speak often of our recovery, we both got a laugh when discussing that my recovery was easier because I could as you said totally stop drinking and live, she had to eat or she would die. We were speaking last week and she shared that she had cycled for a while between binging and then listening to Anna for a while, she said that with a lot of work on her part she was able to stop that cycle and bring herself to a happy medium.

As with the steps of AA the key for her was learning who she was, changing what she could and accepting what she could not change and moving forward constantly aware of her mindset and her eating.

Anorexia as with alcoholism is a life long deal.

You know the only thing I do find interesting as far as a MAJOR difference between anorexics and alcoholics is the following:

1. Statistically speaking recovered alcoholics are the best people to help another alcoholic to recover and in doing so it helps both parties to stay sober.

2. Statistically speaking recovered anorexics helping other anorexics stand a very high chance of relapsing, so much so that places that treat anorexics will not hire a recovering anorexic.

Threshold

Yes Taz, we annas are a twisted lot. I find OA meetings and literature often seem to drive me deeper into the arms of my murderous mistress...sigh.

And reading anna recovery blogs etc, the same.

I am hoping the NA steps will help. I am a multiple addict/abuser, but have never been physically hooked on alcohol.

I am finding my eating issues to be the most difficult to give up and comes to terms with, but then my ED are my oldest addictions, back into early childhood, and closely related to self injury addictions which stem back to my preschool days...sooo...it's really like giving up lifelong friends that "got me this far"...crazy thinking, but that is how it feels.

I feel like I've hit a wall, but I'm not giving up.

I will work the steps best I can, and continue to address ana...honestly, expose it for exactly what it is and learn that I can live a better life without it. It feels like someone is trying to rip my security blanket from me.

I was glad to get clean of substances, cutting, etc..but this one..I seem to be almost in love with. Scary

Anna

I have found that, for me, balance is crucial.

So, I do something for myself, physically, mentally and spiritually every day.

I also come here to SR, which is my lifeline.