Anonymity vs. Good Sobriety!

Anonymity in AA is good in some cases I guess, but in the long haul of sobriety you can't hide it. In my opinion this would jeopardize my sobriety. Besides, everyone in my family and all my friends with and without drinking and drugging problems knew me to well. I guess I could have moved out of town altogether but this would be like running from the problem which doesn't work.

I have been very open about my sobriety from the beginning. I go out of my way if need be to let anyone know I'm a "Grateful Recovering Alcoholic" and God willing, always will be! If you can't be open about your addiction then maybe at some point you will try hiding it...again, or is this why you want to hide it now? Gee, maybe I'm on to something here. Think about it?
I had a split second brain-siege in Texas on Friday. I was in a store looking for a bottle of water and right there it was, cold beer and plenty of it. I thought, wonder what it tastes like, Grabbed my bottle of water and was gone just as quick as the thought was. Of course after years of sobriety it does get much easier.

Every true friend in my life still tells me how much better they like me sober. Even I like me better. In fact, what got me in my third rehab was me waking one morning, looking in the mirror and saying, I hate what I see. At this point I realized I didn't like myself anymore. Guaranteed, you will have a problem if you don't like yourself and don't try to deal with it!

Anonymity vs. Good Sobriety!

Here is a good article to read especially if you are new to sobriety!

The Fear of Living Without Alcohol!

I spent many years wanting to stop drinking but my biggest fear was could I live without alcohol. See, I had a slogan "Live to Drink and Drink to Live". I firmly believed this. There wasn't a day went by that I didn't drink. Once I started I kept drinking until I went to bed or passed out.

I carried a cooler with me all the time. I was never without a cold beer. My days and weekends were planned around alcohol. Back then you couldn't buy beer on Sundays in PA but eventually they changed the law. Now you can buy beer on Sundays from the distributors. I was known at all the watering holes. You would have thought I had my mail sent there.

To stop drinking meant I would have to learn to live a new life in a very different way. I would have to become an earth person as they say in AA. Until I quit the alcohol I never realized just how many people actually played golf without it. I will tell you that I didn't get any better at golf from being sober though. In fact I hardly play anymore because it is a very frustrating sport to me. I have enough frustrations at times in life so I don't go out just to find it.

The first time I got sober it lasted for two and a half years. Then on a ski trip in CO with a few old friends who still drink I decided I knew how to drink like a normal person. That one drink lasted for a year and a half. It was the worst time of my life. My drinking was worse than I had ever imagined. My last real binge lasted 42 days, yes it did. See, in my later years I had to drink when I woke each morning to be able to function. It was ugly because one drink led to many and there I was drunk again.

Needless to say, one morning I rose and looked in the mirror and said I hate you. I then proceeded to get drunk, called a Rehab and was in a Detox unit by the end of the afternoon. That was one of the best days of my life. I know now I'll never be able to drink alcohol of any kind again.

The High-Functioning Alcoholic: Blog Goals and Intentions

Here is another good article By Sarah Allen Benton, L.M.H.C.
http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-high-functioning-alcoholic/200901/the-high-functioning-alcoholic-blog-goals-and-intentions

Here is a good site for more information.
http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/addiction-in-society

Alcoholics Anonymous - Addiction and Recovery

I decided to start this blog after my boredom got me searching the web today. I read an Ann Landers article from a recovering alcoholic. It didn't say how long he had been in recovery or his past addiction. He was concerned about how people treat alcoholics or drug addicts after they are in recovery. You know, hiding the liquor, beer and wine when you visit them. Friends and colleagues drinking only in moderation or not at all when around you. Telling you they quit doing drugs, etc.

I don't know about anyone else but I always made everyone around me aware that I was a recovering alcoholic. Believe me though, most all knew. The ones around me after sobriety were my family and a few friends that I could count on one hand without a drinking problem. They loved me enough to care. They knew I was an addict and drinking out of control and had been to several rehabs in my days.

When I arrived home after Rehab I had one new rule in my house, no alcohol or illegal drugs, period. My girlfriend who lived with me at the time had an active alcoholic brother who thought he could break this rule. He came into my living room with a pounder and I told him to get rid of it. He was such an ass he called me outside to settle it. Of course I didn't, but I did tell him he had to leave and he did, very mad and calling me names the whole way out the door. That was the one and only time it ever happened.

The most important part of any person in recovery is to change people, places and things. If they don't do this their chances of staying sober are slim. I am a firm believer in this. No matter how much you think you had friends when drinking, they all disappear when you quit, providing you don't go back to where they live or hang out.

Alcoholism is a disease. Addiction is a major problem to me with many things though. I guess I'm an addictive person all around. Alcohol abuse, drug abuse, it's all the same. A drug is a drug is a drug. The only difference, alcohol is an accepted product in our society.

Being a grateful recovering alcoholic is the best thing that ever happened to me. Being drunk all the time was really no fun at all. Before sobriety my sloagan was "Live to Drink and Drink to Live" and now it is "Life is Fantastic, Exciting and a Challenge!