Dig on this....
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Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 8,637
Dig on this....
Eric Clapton got sober after a longtime run of alcoholism and drug use that threatened to ruin him. Clapton is now nearing 30 years clean and sober despite suffering the death of his child six years into sobriety. Clapton, speaking publicly, on several occasions has credited his sobriety with not only aiding him in surviving tragedy but aiding in his self-awareness.
Since getting clean and sober, not only has he penned the biggest song of his career, he has written a book and released several successful CDs.
Henry Rollins - an inarguable bada** and incredible artist - has nothing but endorsement for sobriety;
“I believe that one defines oneself by reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself. To cut yourself out of stone. Keep your blood clean, your body lean, and your mind sharp. I just get things done instead of talking about getting them done. I don’t go out and party. I don’t smoke, drink, or do drugs and I’m not married, that leaves a lot of time for my work.” ~Rollins~
Sir Anthony Hopkins - there's a dude who's got a few things going for him. Hopkins struggled with alcoholism early on in his career. He says he turned to alcohol for comfort, rather than reaching out to his many supportive friends and loved ones. Hopkins says that his drinking turned him into a loner, and led to failed relationship after failed relationship. He woke up one morning in another state wondering how he got there, which prompted him to join Alcoholics Anonymous. He attributes AA to getting his life back on track.
Samuel L Jackson - anyone here think that guy's not a hardcore mutha?
The 66-year-old actor declared that getting sober over 20 years ago significantly enhanced his ability to act, which led him to the pinnacle performances of his career in more recent times. Jackson, who lost his father to alcoholism, says his drug use began in the late 70s.
“I liked the feeling of not being cognizant of what was going on around me. I was working the whole time. I rehearsed and performed on drugs.”
Nowadays, his perspective is pretty straightforward (as we'd expect, in stereotypical Samuel L Jackson form); “I still hang out in bars. I get something that looks like a drink so that people don’t know that I’m not drinking, because I want to be accepted. So I have a tonic with lime and it looks like a gin and tonic. People say things like, ‘If you hang out in a barber shop long enough, you’ll get a haircut.’ What? Shut up. People tell you stuff like that because they think you’re going to fail or sometimes they want you to, so they can say, ‘I told you so.'"
How about our man Tom Waits? All those awesome songs, all that creativity, that poetry. What about this guy?
"Oh, you know, it was tough. I went to AA. I'm in the program. I'm clean and sober. Hooray. But, it was a struggle."
Does he miss it?
"Nah. Not the way I was drinking. No, I'm happy to be sober. Happy to be alive. I found myself in some places I can't believe I made it out of alive."
And did it effect his creativity - the great myth-and-fear that holds so many in their cycle?
"No. I don't think so. I mean, one is never completely certain when you drink and do drugs whether the spirits that are moving through you are the spirits from the bottle or your own. And, at a certain point, you become afraid of the answer. That's one of the biggest things that keeps people from getting sober, they're afraid to find out that it was the liquor talking all along."
And who here can tell me that they think Rhonda Rousey is some kind of pansy-arzed loser?
Well... what about Rhonda? Before she became arguably the greatest female MMA fighter alive (and probably one of the best fighters in general, for that matter), Rousey spent a period of time abusing marijuana, alcohol, and Vicodin on a regular basis. She had no money at the time and was living out of her car, but she managed to scrape together enough cash to secure her next high. She has also struggled with bulimia since long before her substance abuse grew out of hand. But once she found her niche in mixed martial arts, she was able to move on from these vices. She teaches us all that finding our passion, while not enough to sober us up on its own, can help to alleviate the stresses that sometimes lead to addiction and self-harm. A notable role model for the women of today’s world, Rousey credits her strength and passion to her mother. “In our family, we were always told that we were meant to be something extraordinary,” says Rousey. “It’s not your job to maintain a home and have kids. You’re supposed to do that. It’s your job to leave the world better than how you found it.”
Listen up; if you're stuck in addiction because you think that sobriety means loss, think again. Seems like there's evidence sobriety is pretty rich.
Maybe you're allowing that voice inside to convince you life won't be fun. I bet Clapton, Rollins, Hopkins, Jackson, Waits and Rousey are having fun.
Perhaps you think you won't be 'cool' without drugs and booze.
PLEASE. Seriously? See above.
You wanna know about fun, cool, abundance? Get on the sobertrain and learn what life's really about.
(special thanks to Amethyst recovery, beams and struts, palm partners blog and the other random Internet places I borrowed from to aggregate and write this post)
Since getting clean and sober, not only has he penned the biggest song of his career, he has written a book and released several successful CDs.
Henry Rollins - an inarguable bada** and incredible artist - has nothing but endorsement for sobriety;
“I believe that one defines oneself by reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself. To cut yourself out of stone. Keep your blood clean, your body lean, and your mind sharp. I just get things done instead of talking about getting them done. I don’t go out and party. I don’t smoke, drink, or do drugs and I’m not married, that leaves a lot of time for my work.” ~Rollins~
Sir Anthony Hopkins - there's a dude who's got a few things going for him. Hopkins struggled with alcoholism early on in his career. He says he turned to alcohol for comfort, rather than reaching out to his many supportive friends and loved ones. Hopkins says that his drinking turned him into a loner, and led to failed relationship after failed relationship. He woke up one morning in another state wondering how he got there, which prompted him to join Alcoholics Anonymous. He attributes AA to getting his life back on track.
Samuel L Jackson - anyone here think that guy's not a hardcore mutha?
The 66-year-old actor declared that getting sober over 20 years ago significantly enhanced his ability to act, which led him to the pinnacle performances of his career in more recent times. Jackson, who lost his father to alcoholism, says his drug use began in the late 70s.
“I liked the feeling of not being cognizant of what was going on around me. I was working the whole time. I rehearsed and performed on drugs.”
Nowadays, his perspective is pretty straightforward (as we'd expect, in stereotypical Samuel L Jackson form); “I still hang out in bars. I get something that looks like a drink so that people don’t know that I’m not drinking, because I want to be accepted. So I have a tonic with lime and it looks like a gin and tonic. People say things like, ‘If you hang out in a barber shop long enough, you’ll get a haircut.’ What? Shut up. People tell you stuff like that because they think you’re going to fail or sometimes they want you to, so they can say, ‘I told you so.'"
How about our man Tom Waits? All those awesome songs, all that creativity, that poetry. What about this guy?
"Oh, you know, it was tough. I went to AA. I'm in the program. I'm clean and sober. Hooray. But, it was a struggle."
Does he miss it?
"Nah. Not the way I was drinking. No, I'm happy to be sober. Happy to be alive. I found myself in some places I can't believe I made it out of alive."
And did it effect his creativity - the great myth-and-fear that holds so many in their cycle?
"No. I don't think so. I mean, one is never completely certain when you drink and do drugs whether the spirits that are moving through you are the spirits from the bottle or your own. And, at a certain point, you become afraid of the answer. That's one of the biggest things that keeps people from getting sober, they're afraid to find out that it was the liquor talking all along."
And who here can tell me that they think Rhonda Rousey is some kind of pansy-arzed loser?
Well... what about Rhonda? Before she became arguably the greatest female MMA fighter alive (and probably one of the best fighters in general, for that matter), Rousey spent a period of time abusing marijuana, alcohol, and Vicodin on a regular basis. She had no money at the time and was living out of her car, but she managed to scrape together enough cash to secure her next high. She has also struggled with bulimia since long before her substance abuse grew out of hand. But once she found her niche in mixed martial arts, she was able to move on from these vices. She teaches us all that finding our passion, while not enough to sober us up on its own, can help to alleviate the stresses that sometimes lead to addiction and self-harm. A notable role model for the women of today’s world, Rousey credits her strength and passion to her mother. “In our family, we were always told that we were meant to be something extraordinary,” says Rousey. “It’s not your job to maintain a home and have kids. You’re supposed to do that. It’s your job to leave the world better than how you found it.”
Listen up; if you're stuck in addiction because you think that sobriety means loss, think again. Seems like there's evidence sobriety is pretty rich.
Maybe you're allowing that voice inside to convince you life won't be fun. I bet Clapton, Rollins, Hopkins, Jackson, Waits and Rousey are having fun.
Perhaps you think you won't be 'cool' without drugs and booze.
PLEASE. Seriously? See above.
You wanna know about fun, cool, abundance? Get on the sobertrain and learn what life's really about.
(special thanks to Amethyst recovery, beams and struts, palm partners blog and the other random Internet places I borrowed from to aggregate and write this post)
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Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: East Coast
Posts: 108
Awesome you hit the nail on the head all about fear bottom of page 67 it is the evil and corroding thread our fabric of our existence is shot through with it it's set in trains of circumstances we thought we didn't deserve we learn to outgrow fear most of us had fear because we relied on ourselves and not a higher power the 12 steps enable us to trust and rely on him and when fear crops up third paragraph on page 84 helps us and gives us the tools to remove the fear first we have to identify it and walk through it you hit the nail on the head
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