Sobriety.... One year later... Please Read.

North East here..JAD. Just got home from picking up my wife..spinal surgery

 

Glad to see this thread still moving along! I’ve been clean and sober since 7/13/12, but only by doing it one day at a time. THIS is the easier, softer way!

 

Got the North base covered. Doin’ right fine & hope today’s bein’ kind.

 

Hope she recovers quickly

 

Much appreciated. Had C4-5 discs replaced.

 

Today marks 9 years clean and sober for me. Wish I could take the credit, but something more powerful than me deserves it all! Everyone trudging- keep on keeping on!

 

Outstanding! Keep it up

 

Keep up the awesome work my friend...

That more powerful being found his way to help me overcome and keep me in the right direction....

 

Nine years "Bam",from 'Bama,ha, thats huge dude, good for you.
Yesterday's history...
Tomorrow's a mystery...
Live today...

 

It’s been awhile since I’ve been here.
I scrolled through a few posts. And want to say congratulations on anniversaries!
Through my higher power and the fellowship, on 7/8/21 I celebrated 3 years of complete sobriety! What a long strange trip it’s been, but now my life is so much better. I actually hear, see and appreciate things WAY more than 30 yrs of abuse. 1 day at a time… who would have figured? Humility is awesome

 

That's awesome! Keep on keeping on

 

Good job Dude!!!

 

Glad you survived, I understand where your coming from, I've been of the Volunteer fire department for many years, and I have seen things that no one should ever see, its hard for myself to speak of the things that have happened to my friends and my family, but I have my wife still with me today after all that I've done to try and forget about the pain during my experience with the fire department, hats off to you and your family

 

Getting old am I..

 

That is AWESOME Chris.......Congrats sir!!!!

 

Oh man... Let me fist say that I am truly sorry for not responding in here in quite some time. I figured it had slowed down for a bit which happens occasionally. Usually whenever I see it come up on my alerts I respond. But for some reason, yesterday was the first time that it came up on my alert. I've missed three pages of posts because of that. For that I am very sorry. Hell... I think the last time I posted was when I was having my tooth pulled last year and I was concerned about the pain pills. Everything turned out fine and I only had to take them for one day. I have no idea what my wife did with the rest of them and I've never asked.

For all of those that shared birthdates... Congratulations!!! I know the last year has been rough on many, many people.

Congratulations my friend. Drinking was the easiest thing to give up for me. I quit in one day and haven't had a drink in going on 9 years now. All of the other stuff was much harder on me. That's why the pain pills scared me so much last year. I knew if I were given charge of them I'd never be able to take them as intended. It turns out that after I had my tooth pulled, the next day sucked. It was pretty painful. My wife gave me the pain pills as prescribed but they didn't touch the pain. I think most of that is because I developed a huge tolerance towards pain pills when I was abusing them. One 7.5/325 pill wasn't going to touch anything when I was taking eight to nine 10/325s just to get me to where I wanted to be when I was abusing them. But the drinking? I don't know? It's like I have the strange taste in my mouth when I see someone else drinking. It's like a physical reaction to an emotional stimulus.

When I retired from the FD, my wife, daughter, and I went to Colorado right after I retired. We always go to this specific brewery to eat when we are in Durango. In a way it's bittersweet because I have a lot of good memories of going there when I wasn't an alcoholic. My wife asked me what type of beer I would recommend for her (mind you, I've been 7 year sober at this point so this was a non issue). I showed her a few beers on the menu that I would like but all of them are extremely hoppy beers. She may not like it. They brought her the beer and she as she drank it, she innocently asked if I wanted a sip. She didn't do this out of any sort of spite or anything like that. She was / is the biggest part of my recovery. I think in her mind she thought that since I was now retired and away from the very thing that drove me to become an addict, that it would be okay if I had a sip to see if it was good. I just told her "No thanks" "One sip will turn into one beer. One beer will turn into 6 while were here. And on the way back to the hotel we'll stop by a liquor store to pick up a 12 pack and even that won't be enough". I think she felt bad about asking but I just told her "It's okay... I get it". "I just don't want to test that theory out". I would give anything to be able to go back in time and go to a restaurant and drink a beer with dinner. But I just don't think it would work that way. All it takes is "one slip... and down the hole we fall" (someone here will get that reference )

Congrats on getting back on that horse and not letting it throw you again. You are correct... it is a progressive disease. In fact... it's the only disease that I know of that you can actually get yelled at for having lol.

I will say, and I've mentioned this in the past in this thread, AA works for many people that is obvious. It didn't work for me since I don't have a higher power to release anything to. I could get to the first step but after that, I couldn't get to the others. I went to a few meetings but that was it. I ended up just doing it on my own with the help and support of my family and friends. That said... I firmly believe whatever works for you or anyone is the path that should be taken (as long as we do no harm to anyone). Congrats once again my friend.

My friend... I'm very sorry to hear about your brother. No words that I could say would be adequate for dealing with your loss. Your right... Addiction doesn't discriminate. Once you really start down that path it's very hard to turn around and find a different fork in the road. But that fork is there if you look hard enough for it. Understanding that if I can find it... anyone can.

It didn't come across as attention seeking. This thread has one common theme. We don't judge anyone. We come here for a reason and that's to support each other. Though I'm very sorry I missed three pages of this thread. But no matter what has happened in your life, it can always be turned around. Like everyone has said. "One day at a time". As long as we keep our eyes looking forward and mindful of things that trigger the responses that we all share in one from or another, we'll be okay. And if something happens and someone trips? You can always get back up and there will never be judgement in here. We are human and humans have certain flaws. I've yet to meet a perfect human yet. But in the imperfection... It makes us unique.

 

Re the higher power thing @RearViewMirror

My friend isn't much for religion, and said he never liked dealing with men anyways. He was quite the womanizer in his drinking days. So he created his own higher power. A 6 foot redhead. He had zero problems talking to her.

 

Oh... I understand the "higher power" thing. It just didn't fit with me personally. The praying thing kind of turned me off of AA "personally". But that's just me. Be it God or whatever someone believes? Whatever works for each individual I'm all for. Being an atheist, there is nothing for me to release it too. So instead I just took full responsibility for my actions and held myself accountable. But again... whatever way works for an individual? I'm all for it.