The Secret to Staying Sober is
 

WORK AT IT

They say that if you want to stay sober find the people with long term sobriety and do what they do. The thing is if you put all of them in the same room they would all have different approaches to it. The one commonality I see among all the long term happy and healthy sober people is that they have all worked at...usually extremely hard and especially in the beginning.

There is no magic pill, there is no secret formula, there is no master plan.....except work.

That's just the way I see it at 8 months sober. I wanted to share it with all the newcomers because its the single most important thing I have learned:)

:tyou LF
Well done on your 8 months....:funjump:

Good job, LaFemme!

Well said! And I'm grateful every day for the chance to work at it some more. :)

Congrats on 8 months, LaFemme!

I'm with you on that T - and way to go on 8 months :bounce

D

I'm sure a lot of you have heard this at AA, but it made me laugh. It was about becoming complacent and complacency leading to relapse and that you had to work the program. Then one man spoke up and said "come place" your ass in one of the seats of this AA meeting room each week. Even if you don't do the AA program, "come place" your ass here at SR each day. So true....just wanted to share.

Thank you SO MUCH for sharing that, especially for putting it in big letters! I needed to hear that today! :thanks Congratulations on 8 months!!! Wow!!!:candle:

Yep! It just doesn't happen. Like all things worth having, it's worth working for.

Awesome job on 8 months, LF! You are Kickin' It!

LaFemme
Simple,straightforward method to sobriety, work hard. you got it LaFemme and you share it well.
SH

Great Post LF! I would like to add, that some work may be perceived as hard, and some of the work may be really hard in the beginning, but now I am finding the work fun and rewarding.

I really dreaded quitting before I did, but now I have a few months in I can't believe I waited this long. And although in certain situations it sets me apart, I'm enjoying being there and people are enjoying me more.

The harder I work it the more fun and easier it becomes!

Great point Supercrew...its not always unpleasant "work" in fact ikt rarely has been for me...rather its rewarding and freeing...kind of like cleaniing ones house;p

If you're willing to put close to the effort you put into drinking & drugging, you've got a pretty good shot imo.

Hard work reaps great benefits.
I hope to be there one day :)
Great job!

You are awesome LaFemme. You add so much to this forum.

Congratulations on the 8 months! Good Job (and hard work, I know!)

Tonight at rehab we touched on the words recovering vs. recovered.
There is no recovered alcoholic. You are always a recovering alcoholic -every new day! It is alot of work to have that thorn in your side every single day. Gawd, sometimes I wish I just never even started. *sigh*

Hi LaF, I love everything you say x

Good post and a great reminder.
Nothing comes easy.
Congratulations on your 8 months, well done.

Emerald Rose...for what its worth I do think we become "recovered". I view it a little like cancer...you recover...it goes into remission ...but that doesn't mean you can't come down with it again...especially if you don't take care of yourself.

And the work is not the crappy kind of work that makes you want to hit the snooze bar 50 times in the morning...but the type of work that most of The time gets you out of bed excited for your day:)

I would also add that the very best advice would be also to take one of the old timers to one side and say how exactly did you get sober and stay sober long term and emulate their success...why re-invent the wheel?

Kind of like looking to set up a business one would ask someone who had done the same and follow their successes and avoid their pitfalls...old behaviour would be to think that they know nothing anyway and we know better:-)

Thanks and congratulations, I am sober now over 70 days and I just wanted to say that personally just reading your posts have really helped me on many days, thank you for being you!