2granddaughters

Lionhearted1, this keeps me going to my AA meetings.

The Promises, that are read in many A.A. Meetings can be found on page 83-84, of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.

THE A.A. PROMISES

If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and selfpity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us—sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them.


All the best.

Bob R

Soberween

This is just one tiny facet about living life sober that I love..... NO LONGER HAVING TO PROCURE THE WINE!! Always worrying about how much wine I had in the house, ugh. Making up an excuse to run an errand at 5pm to go get my wine. Now I walk through the grocery store and am pretty down right smug as I pass the wine and know I no longer need to buy that crap constantly.

sofie

Yes- that is a good feeling! Slipped my mind how good it feels to have that freedom. Those little nuggets keep me going and sometimes it is really great to remember how not fun it is to be consumed by something that keeps me down. The good feeling really didn't last that long now that I think about it. This good feeling is solid and real- at least to me...

Fernaceman

Thank you, 2Grand. Lol that sounds like a gangster rapper's name. The promises say it all.

DrunkTx

I have huge anxiety, fear and insecurity. I work for a man that started two $500 million dollar companies. The man is the incarnation of narcissistic evil. He constantly abuses me verbally, indictes my capabilities and generally likes to make me look like a fool. If I was drinking, I would be unemployed and probably suicidal. Sober - I am confident that just because he says the sky is pink, doesn't make it pink. And for whatever reason, after 20 years of insecurity, I just have a peace about me. So much so, that I was able to approach our board of directors about this jackass, and basically have been given 100% accountability for the business side of our operation. 50% god, 50% luck - 100% sober!

sugarbear1

my attitude is very positive.

today, I can achieve everything and anything I want to do!

I never thought this way when I was drinking.

IndaMiricale

Holy Moly I never had it so good !!!!!!


Today I am grateful for my sobriety, I was never grateful for anything for decades of drinking....

I wake up not come to
I am at peace when I start the day
I am honest
I am of use to others
I can be trusted
I have somewhere to sleep today
I remember eating
I have fun sober golf, tennis, snowboarding ect.
I have TRUE FRIENDS
The list grows and gets better all the time..

I am honestly with myself and I am joyous, happy, and free today..

RobbyRobot

It's all about the simple freedom to be me. Alcohol/drugs robbed me of that essential freedom. Beat me up and robbed me blind. Killing me. Destroying me. At the end, all I had left was a drunken me and of course the booze.

Quitting drinking changed all that. Simple enough to just quit. Not so easy to get a new life and stay quit. We all have our story. You're right about what is the point if it's all bad news...

Don't let that bad news get you down though. Happiness does come from sadness is my experience. I got a whole lot of happiness from all my previous years of sadness, LOL.

My thinking now is in the present. Same with my feelings. My responsibilities are also in the now. I'm not trying to catch up with my own life anymore. I can be me. It sounds kinda trite and perhaps rehearsed, but I really am the me i want to be. Quitting drinking gave me back much more of a life then I ever lost. My life is real now, and I truly own it for me, myself, and I. I'm not selling myself out anymore. Awesome.

I've had some tough deals during my years of sobriety. I came out on top because life does work. Good does eventually overcome wrongness. Life does make sense and have a purpose. Time does heal.

Of course, life isn't perfect, lol.

Challenges and troubles are just a normal happening for me now though. I don't give up anymore. I win the day by doing the next right thing, no matter what the challenge may be, I now have what it takes to do it up right and get it done properly. That was all impossible while I drank. Totally impossible.

When I quit drinking in July 1981 for the last time, I had a green garbage bag of lousy clothes, an acoustical guitar, and a wooden chess set. That summer I was sleeping in ditches and hide-aways.

Things have changed.

Today I have more than I could have wished for to be honest. I'm more or less retired at 55 and I have no financial debt. I'm rich enough not to care much about money anymore. That is a big dream for me come true. I'm happily re-married. I love my wife. My ex and her new husband are appreciated as family, which again is another joy. I have a great loving relationship with my daughter and my step-children. I have friends. Good friends.

I have my health, even after so many medical challenges, I'm still getting it right, hahaha.

I have my sanity, and I was so mentally ill at one time I was diagnosed, while drinking, as being chronically schizophrenic. Incurable they told me.

I'm a kinder, more loving person without drinking. While drinking, I was a hateful monster both to myself, and everyone else who ever cared about me.

I have my honest feelings, and no more am I a slave to feeling anxious and overwhelmed with sadness, anger, lonliness, fear, apathy, selfishness, worry, emptiness, and the worse of all ... nothingness.

So, be of good cheer, Lionhearted!

This thread is jam packed with real people having great lives without drinking alcohol! It is all so within reach for you too!

escapist

On Friday I had a family emergency. I jumped in my car and took off. Whlie I was driving I thought Thank God I am not drinking. I could see myself fumbling around drunk. Getting in my car drunk, watching for police. Or just not helping at all because I am too drunk.
I felt so good about my sobriety. I am actually reliable again.

Lionhearted1

Awesome replies you all feel me with such hope that although today iam still a slave to my emotions with time I will be free...

Thank you all.

stairs

I like being sober because it's so wonderfully uncomplicated. No sneaking, lies, shame, guilt.

I like knowing that if I had to I could throw on a pair of jeans and drive anywhere I needed to go should there be an emergency, that I look halfway human again, I'm not running to the bathroom for one reason or another an excessive number of times daily, my Christmas shopping is underway and I am actually in the spirit of things this year.

That I can read a book all the way through even "Under the Dome" by Stephen King which is over 1000 pages long, and follow it, get into it, not just pass out on one page then give it up.

I feel so good physically. I sleep a regular number of hours. I eat real food rather than just something quick because I should.

So many things, so thankful to be here today!

Cascabel

Just remember, there is no problem you can have that can't be made much worse by drinking.

karilynn27

I am alive, I am happy and I am present for every single moment. I had no idea this was possible. I am very grateful. Last year I was dying, suicidal and mia. What a journey

FreeFall

Lionhearted, you will be writing posts like these soon if you stick to it. It's not easy, and not fun, but hang in there and soon everything will be easier and many things will be fun.

It feels really good not to hate yourself daily and to be able to ditch the guilt over drinking. More hours in the day. Clearer skin. Quality sleep. Laughing at things that are genuinely funny. Helping friends with 100% effort. Being a better caretaker. More attention for the cats. Better relationships. Never looking in the rear view mirror with fear over dui stop. Time to be creative. It goes on and on

Zencat

As others on this thread wrote, freedom from the death grip alcohol had on me is a joy in of it self. True, freedom comes at a price. Like learning new healthy behaviors that takes patience and persistence to do. But its a labor of love gratitude.