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The last piece of gold you'd give?

Old 01-21-2010, 06:36 PM
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Eating protein and life.
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The last piece of gold you'd give?

Hey gang,

I'm back after taking a bit of a break to get my head back on straight since my last rationalization of not being an alcoholic. I've been sober the whole time and using the time to realize that alcohol is so much bigger than me. It's so much easier to stop fighting a battle I can't win, stop swimming against the current, and just surrender - a bit like it takes less energy to be nice to people rather than to be a ding dong to people. That said, I'm an alcoholic and the exhaustion of admitting that is gone.

Anyway, back to the REAL point of this thread.

If you could leave your legacy as an addict/alcoholic by helping another addict/alcoholic with one last thought, piece of advice, and/or activity what would it be?
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Old 01-21-2010, 06:41 PM
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Good to see you back Untox,
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Old 01-21-2010, 06:53 PM
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Old 01-21-2010, 07:07 PM
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On my death bed - "Here's my sponsor's number now go away and let me die in peace you selfish *******"

On paper after i die, there is nothing that i could add to the big book...so i dunno.."read the BB and do what it says!"

For poetic effect - "Don't waste time with one foot on the platform and one on the train, either stay on or get off! "
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Old 01-21-2010, 07:21 PM
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Forward we go...side by side-Rest In Peace
 
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Welcome back.....

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Old 01-21-2010, 07:25 PM
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I have never woken up sober and hangover free wishing I had been drunk the night before.
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Old 01-22-2010, 03:35 AM
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Don't resist, allow
 
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Hi Untox,

Good to see you back. I have been wondering how you have been in the last week.




There's so much I could say....but one which springs to mind right now is "All the answers are in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous"


I'm glad you have accepted your alcoholism and can move onward with your recovery.
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Old 01-22-2010, 04:51 AM
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If you want to quit drinking just don't drink. Pass on that first drink.
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Old 01-22-2010, 06:30 AM
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Originally Posted by Fubarcdn View Post
If you want to quit drinking just don't drink. Pass on that first drink.
This is a different, but equally as valid, experience as my own. I can appreciate someone having a different experience.

I found that just not drinking left me, after a time, more miserable than before. I learned that there is a whole group of drinkers who define alcoholism as the inability to just not drink.

Originally Posted by AA Big Book, 1st Ed.
How many time people have said to us: "I can take it or leave it alone. Why can't he?" "Why don't you drink like a gentleman or quit?" "That fellow can't handle his liquor." "Why don't you try beer and wine?" "Lay off the hard stuff." "His will power must be weak." "He could stop if he wanted to." "She's such a sweet girl, I should think he'd stop for her sake." "The doctor told him that if he ever drank again it would kill him, but there he is all lit up again."

Now these are commonplace observations on drinkers which we hear all the time. Back of them is a world of ignorance and misunderstanding. We see that these expressions refer to people whose reactions are very different from ours.
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Old 01-22-2010, 06:36 AM
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I've heard from so many speakers in meeting that a single word from someone at the start or end of a meeting seemed to have changed their whole outlook, and ultimately lives. For one person, it was the way someone held her hand after the meeting with a encouraging "squeeze". She didn't even remember the persons face. But that one moment for whatever reason stuck with her.

I'd like to think that out of 2,457 (or around there) meetings I've been to, perhaps a small word or smile from me did the same. I've been to quite a few comittments and am going on one next week. I can only hope I've helped someone in at least one small way on these trips. They certainly helped me by listening.

I guess my point is. Thanks to AA, I don't think I'd feel as if I never contributed anything to the good of the world. Because it just wouldn't and couldn't be true anymore.

I can do it everyday if I want to, even three times a day, just by showing up at a meeting. :-) How awsome is that!

I guess my dream death bed scenario would be to get wheeled to some guy in the next wing who's sick from alcoholism and have a little chat. Tell my story one last time.
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Old 01-22-2010, 07:22 AM
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Old 01-22-2010, 08:34 AM
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Eating protein and life.
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Thanks gang, I love these.
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Old 01-22-2010, 11:20 AM
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I'd say it's never too late to turn the whole thing around.
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Old 01-23-2010, 08:59 AM
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I'm guessing we all have different pieces of gold to give at different parts of our recovery...and in turn for those in different parts of theirs.

At this stage in my recovery I'd probably relay a message of my own struggles with accepting my alcoholism. In my heart of hearts I think I was still caught up in society's negative light of being an alcoholic. That, coupled with my own desire to not be one, really kept me from acceptance.

So a more simpler line to someone struggling might become...

Being an alcoholic can either be the best or worst thing that has ever happened to you - but that's all up to you.

More to follow as I continue my journey.

Have a great weekend all!
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Old 01-23-2010, 09:32 AM
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Originally Posted by Untoxicated View Post
So a more simpler line...
I'd also say, give yourself time to rediscover grammar!
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Old 01-23-2010, 11:48 AM
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Hey man.

Glad you stayed sober and are ready to admit total and utter defeat to king alcohol. He is more powerful than you'll ever be whils't he is still allowed in your life. But he has no power once you realise that! Just gotta keep the monster at bay by not feeding him his monster munch!! ie- resentments, Ego, Rationalising, thinking into the future (in relation to drinking/using), projecting etcetcetc.



"PEACE"
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Old 01-23-2010, 12:09 PM
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I'd say:

"The human spirit within you is SO MUCH more powerful, SO MUCH stronger, SO much greater than a silly cup of rotten liquid biomatter."
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Old 01-23-2010, 01:33 PM
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Psalm 118:24
 
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This keeps me grounded


Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O, Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
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Old 01-24-2010, 12:44 PM
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As I was hanging my head in the toilet after my last bender, what popped into my head was "This is no way to live. This is a way to die."
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Old 01-24-2010, 10:20 PM
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Abstinence is not drinking and feeling bad about it.

Recovery is not drinking and feeling good about it.
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