Faith Weekender 01-04 December 2016
 

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I've been thinking this week how essential faith is to recovery - and I'm not talking religious faith, although that's essential for many..

I'm talking faith in ourselves and faith that, if we ask for help, we'll get it.

I had absolutely no faith and no confidence in myself. I'd tried to quit every week in recent memory and would rarely make day one, let alone day 3 which was my usual 'record'.

I knew I didn't want to live like this but I had no self belief that I could live any other way.

That's when SR stepped in. People here kept telling me that, as long as I stayed sober everything would, eventually be ok.

I didn't really believe it - I assumed I was one of those doomed cases of drinkers who'd never sober up - but I heard 'it'll be ok' so often I figured I might as well give it a shot.

And everything was ok - even that torturous first month when I struggled with wanting to drink every day - I still felt better than when I'd been drinking.

I stayed sober and eventually my old life and old ideas fell away to be replaced by new ones that have served me better ever since.

to anyone struggling reading this I say - have faith - recovery really does work. Don't be afraid to change your life, or to reach out for support and ask for help.

You really can do this :)


D

Should say it?

Thanks for the lovely post Dee

Oh it's just a bit of fun - shothun! !

I meant shotgun :)

Anyway thank you for the thought provoking post. I never ever had faith in myself either. Sometimes it makes me emotional to see how far I've come.

Me too Tetra - for us both i mean :)

D

Lovely post see.
Well done Tetra.
I was about to look for this thread but got distracted reading others....
So I will call second to your shotgun if that's ok.xx

I'll be third in line: "Speaker of the House."

In the American governmental system, if anything happens to incapacitate the President, the Vice President takes charge; then if anything happens to him, all power goes to the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

I woke up at 3:33 and thought surely it was an omen--but apparently not.

Seriously, that was a very important post, Dee. I had been such a sucker for alternate states for so long I didn't think I'd ever be able to rein in my addictive personality--but I was able to after all.

The support here was my lifeline.

IN!!! Happy weekend!

Went to my first yoga class last night. Loved it. Will go every wednesday now. Very helpful to sobriety. Give it a try.

K

Ever go skeet shooting, Tetra?

On board!!!

Tetra, congratulations on shotgun :)

Great starter post Dee, thank you! Faith is absolutely essential in sobriety. This CAN be done. You have to have faith that you can do it and you must really want it.

The beginning is hard but once you get a taste of life without using you start to realize just how much better it can be and how much it ruled you. Everything you thought, like life will be boring, is so far from the truth. It's just the lie that addiction tells you to keep you in it's clutches.

Looking forward to a Sober Weekend, have a great day everyone!

Here!

I'm in!
I took a leap of faith when I decided to get help and get sober. I had to force myself to have faith. I went to treatment, went to AA. Within a short period of time, I didn't have to force myself to have faith anymore. The evidence was all around me - people were sober, getting better, and loving life. I still have faith everyday that my life can only continue to get better in sobriety. But along with faith comes hard work. I find the two inseparable - faith and work. Have faith that your hard work will pay off.

Glad to be here.

Thanks Dee!

I love the topic.

I am in for a sober weekend. :grouphug:

Welcome, Robinson! :)

I'm in. This may not be exactly what Dee was talking about, but right now, what keeps me sober, largely, is my faith in the fact that I now KNOW, without a doubt, how things will turn out if I were to take a drink. I now put my faith in the inevitability that "just one drink, to take the edge off" will turn in to "just one bottle, to get through the day", which will turn into "just one more bottle, to settle me down so I can get to work on Monday." This will in turn lead to more drinking to control the shakes and anxiety, and I will be stuck in the whole cycle again. I went through that so many times, each time believing that "this time, I've got this!" Now, I just accept it as an article of faith that I simply cannot take that first drink, no matter the circumstances.

Incidentally, it was exactly one year ago yesterday that I had my first withdrawal seizure that landed me in the hospital for 3 days in an unfamiliar city. I'm so glad that I am in such a better place now.

In

It didn't take any faith to know that my life would get better if I stopped killing myself. It took a YUGE amount of faith to think that I, the world's weakest willed person could beat the cravings but if you don't give them space in your head then they have no dominion

I'm in.

It was a huge leap of faith and of desperation when I called my supervisor on a Sunday, while drunk, to tell her that I was an alcoholic, that I wanted to quit drinking and that I needed time off to go to inpatient rehab to do so. After a few seconds pause I heard "I'll get right back to you on that." She did get back to me, I got a month off of work, I didn't get fired and I returned to my same job sober.

You can do it. And while that initial quit back in October 2012 didn't entirely stick because I relapsed after 10.5 months, I have been sober for 3 years as of today. Life isn't always a bowl of cherries but I'm not as desperate, sad and lonely as I once was.

Anyway, good to see everyone here.

Congratulations Ruby!!

:You_Rock_

Hi, DesertDawg! Welcome!

Welcome to the thread Robinson

Yay Ruby! Congratulations on 3 years sober. You are an inspiration