New guy
DOS: 08-16-2012
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Central Iowa
Posts: 365
New guy
Hello folks! My name is Dave and I believe I’m an alcoholic. Thanks to the program of Alcoholics Anonymous I was able to meet a great group of people who have alcoholic thinking, like myself, and thanks to their kindness and sharing I have not had a drink of alcohol, or any mind altering substance, since August 16, 2012. So that’s just about 3 years and 7 months.
I started looking at this site about a year before that, when I finally admitted to myself that I had a problem. For about a year I looked at this site and went to some meetings but didn’t follow any advice or take any action. I won’t get into my whole story but to make it short, over the weekend of August 11, 2012 I caused my family and myself great pain, even more than usual for me. That Monday, for the first time ever, I told my sponsor I was willing to do what it would take to stop and he told me to get to a meeting a day and plan on attending an AA conference the following weekend. So that weekend I got into a car with a bunch of alcoholics and went to the Cornhusker Roundup in Omaha Nebraska. This is a big AA conference in the Midwest/Central United States. I can’t tell you what happened that weekend, besides me sweating constantly and being sick from withdrawal! But something happened from being around all those people who thought like I did and had been through what I was going through. After I got home on Sunday, I started writing a 4th step. It took me about 6 hours and lots of crying from writing and reading the things I had done. There is just something from taking that action that can change your life. I can honestly say that after that day my obsession with alcohol was lifted and has not returned. I did follow up by doing a 5th step within a couple of weeks.
After that I attended 4-5 meetings a week for about 2 years. Today I am still on the 9th step. I have only done one amends and am dragging my feet. For almost 1.5 years I’ve been attending 2, once in a while 3, meetings a week. As time as gone on I have slacked off on my program but I am still active enough that I have no desire to drink to this day.
I just thought after all this time that I should start an account here and maybe start sharing on some of the subjects I read. Reading many of the commits here help me see the crazy thinking that we alcoholics have! I also feel this forum is a great addition to meetings for me. So I would like to say hi to everyone and hopefully I can continue to learn from everyone on the forum and maybe post a useful commit now and then!
I started looking at this site about a year before that, when I finally admitted to myself that I had a problem. For about a year I looked at this site and went to some meetings but didn’t follow any advice or take any action. I won’t get into my whole story but to make it short, over the weekend of August 11, 2012 I caused my family and myself great pain, even more than usual for me. That Monday, for the first time ever, I told my sponsor I was willing to do what it would take to stop and he told me to get to a meeting a day and plan on attending an AA conference the following weekend. So that weekend I got into a car with a bunch of alcoholics and went to the Cornhusker Roundup in Omaha Nebraska. This is a big AA conference in the Midwest/Central United States. I can’t tell you what happened that weekend, besides me sweating constantly and being sick from withdrawal! But something happened from being around all those people who thought like I did and had been through what I was going through. After I got home on Sunday, I started writing a 4th step. It took me about 6 hours and lots of crying from writing and reading the things I had done. There is just something from taking that action that can change your life. I can honestly say that after that day my obsession with alcohol was lifted and has not returned. I did follow up by doing a 5th step within a couple of weeks.
After that I attended 4-5 meetings a week for about 2 years. Today I am still on the 9th step. I have only done one amends and am dragging my feet. For almost 1.5 years I’ve been attending 2, once in a while 3, meetings a week. As time as gone on I have slacked off on my program but I am still active enough that I have no desire to drink to this day.
I just thought after all this time that I should start an account here and maybe start sharing on some of the subjects I read. Reading many of the commits here help me see the crazy thinking that we alcoholics have! I also feel this forum is a great addition to meetings for me. So I would like to say hi to everyone and hopefully I can continue to learn from everyone on the forum and maybe post a useful commit now and then!
Community Greeter
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Upstate New York
Posts: 51,564
Welcome, Dave - it's great to have you with us!
Congrats on your 3 yrs. & 7 mos.
That is wonderful. I'm sure many will benefit from your experience & the journey you've take so far. I'm glad you found us.
Congrats on your 3 yrs. & 7 mos.
That is wonderful. I'm sure many will benefit from your experience & the journey you've take so far. I'm glad you found us.
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