Start, don't STOP

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03-03-2016, 09:39 AM

# 1 (permalink)

FreeOwl

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Thread Starter

Join Date: Jan 2014

Posts: 8,637

Start, don't STOP

I've said it before in other threads and other ways, but here's a little trick I learned after a lot of hard lessons;

The richness of sobriety and freedom from addiction doesn't lie in STOPPING.

It is found, in STARTING.

Starting by CHOOSING to embrace sobriety
Starting to embrace LIFE
Starting to make CHANGES to support your choice, every day
Starting to be honest - with yourself and others
Starting to try new things
Starting to explore and address our emotions
Starting to help others
Starting to be PRESENT
Starting to learn to LIVE
Starting to appreciate the GOODNESS
Starting to practice GRATITUDE

When we shift our focus from what we must STOP...

To all that we get to START....

When we turn it from a STRUGGLE....

Into a Joyous new ADVENTURE....

Wonderful things happen.

03-03-2016, 09:52 AM

# 2 (permalink)

Incontrol15

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Join Date: Apr 2015

Posts: 2,412

Very good info.

Training the mind to think "what CAN I do" is very important.

03-03-2016, 09:54 AM

# 3 (permalink)

Mrskw

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Join Date: Mar 2016

Posts: 299

I LOVE this, thank you for sharing!!

03-03-2016, 09:58 AM

# 4 (permalink)

MIRecovery

A Day at a Time

Join Date: Sep 2012

Location: Grand Rapids MI

Posts: 6,435

Continued sobriety is far more about change than it is about not drinking. Not drinking is a symptom of a life well lead

03-03-2016, 10:00 AM

# 5 (permalink)

Arbor

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Join Date: Sep 2013

Location: New England

Posts: 3,805

Exactly FreeOwl. When I finally realized I wasn't giving anything up, but gaining everything things became a lot more clear.

Thanks for sharing. It's crucial folks understand this part.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MIRecovery

Not drinking is a symptom of a life well lead

^^^ And that's amazing. Thanks MIR !

03-03-2016, 10:57 AM

# 6 (permalink)

spadge

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Join Date: Nov 2009

Location: South Yorkshire, Great Britain

Posts: 205

So very true! Thanx freeowl xxx

03-03-2016, 11:45 AM

# 7 (permalink)

Fly N Buy

Trudgin

Join Date: Jul 2014

Posts: 6,348

Couldn't agree more - Sobriety not I can't but I can, the action of which is start.

Good thread!

03-03-2016, 01:03 PM

# 8 (permalink)

nova84

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Join Date: Jan 2016

Location: London

Posts: 2,040

Thanks Freeowl for the positive reminder x

03-05-2016, 03:23 AM

# 9 (permalink)

FreeOwl

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Thread Starter

Join Date: Jan 2014

Posts: 8,637

What will you start, TODAY?

03-05-2016, 06:02 AM

# 10 (permalink)

sugarbear1

~sb

Join Date: Jul 2011

Location: MD

Posts: 15,966

Lots to "turn around" in sobriety!

I used to think I drank too much until I realized I couldn't drink enough! Time to turn it around and "Start" instead of stop....

Love your post, FreeOwl!

03-05-2016, 06:11 AM

# 11 (permalink)

Nonsensical

Hears The Voice

Join Date: Jan 2013

Location: Unshackled

Posts: 7,901

Love the OP.

Perspective is everything. Too often the freshly sober focus on the loss of drinking in their lives. But in reality, they have opened up every other option to themselves that drinking had buried.

It's like holding the winning lottery ticket and crying over the dollar it cost you to buy it.

03-05-2016, 06:15 AM

# 12 (permalink)

leviathan

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Join Date: Apr 2014

Location: illinois

Posts: 907

This is powerful. In believing that we are missing out (we are not.), we make sobriety a punishment. -I just couldn't maintain that.

Recognising sobriety for the complete gain it is- probably my biggest single relapse prevention strategy.