Member: John H
Location: Hoosierland
Date: 12/23/2001
Time: 11:09:52 AM
Hello, everyone! This from John, an alcoholic. When I am low in spirit, I depend upon the AA program to direct me to the Higher Power for comfort rather than to the bottle that brought discomfort. I now count my many blessings rather to dwell upon excuses and pointing fingers.
It is said that gratitude is the greatist of all virtues. I am most grateful for the AA program of Recovery, Unity, and Service. By working the steps and respecting the traditions daily the best I could at the moment, I have attained more than 15 years of continuous sobriety.
May you all have a spiritual awakening during these holidays, first by counting your blessings and staying sober.
Member: Kevin D.
Location: Smith Valley, NV
Date: 12/23/2001
Time: 1:44:12 PM
Merry Christmas everyone. My name is Kevin And I am a greatful addict/alcoholic. This will be my first Christmas clean and sober. And I feel like a little kid anxious and excited. But not really for the gifts but for getting together of family and friends. I am forever greatful that I still have a family that wants me apart of their lives.
I am in the Reno area, to visit my parents, from Sonoma County. My only problem is I'm about a hour and a half from a meeting and I feel I should be at one. Thank to all have a Merry Christmas
Member: Lionel C
Location: campbelltown Australia
Date: 12/23/2001
Time: 3:18:31 PM
Hello to all my spiritual brothers and sisters.I am Lionel I'm an alcoholic from Sydney Australia.
I would like to wish everyone a joyful & happy Xmas.I would also like to wish everyone a prosperous New Year.This is a time when the so'called normal people make there New Years resolutions. Some last a week some a month .Then they have to wait till the following year and start again.But where lucky in the fellowship.Every day is New Years day or thats how i see it.It's ONE DAY AT TIME.So if i break my New Years resolutions .I just start again that day. Like John I'm also Greatful to the A.A.Fellowship and its Three Legacys. RECOVERY SERVICE UNITY.I can't We can.Thanks to God and this Program .I have a good life today I'm begining to live each day .Not just survive.There is a difference.So if your new to the fellowship please hang around long enought for the miracle to happen in your life.
Need you all Lionel.C
Member: Lyla D
Location: Polk City, Fl
Date: 12/23/2001
Time: 6:23:09 PM
Hi, Happy Holidays to everyone. Not in the Christmas spirit at all. Unusual for me. I didn't even put up a tree or anything this year. Oh, well. I am going to the alkathon at our local club. Like to go to the midnight meeting on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, something special about those meetings for me. For those of you that don't celebrate the holidays-blessings and joy in sobriety.
Member: MICHAEL C
Location: NEW YORK
Date: 12/23/2001
Time: 6:24:39 PM
HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!! LIKE KEVIN, THIS IS MY FIRST SOBER CHRISTMAS EVER AND I FEEL BETTER THAN I EVER HAVE. I HAVE BEEN SOBER NOW FOR ALMOST 4 MONTHS, OR 115 DAYS, AND I FEEL THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO LIVE MY LIFE FOREVER. GONE IS THE PARANOIA, THE BLACKOUTS, THE CHRISTMAS MORNING HANGOVERS. I AM REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS CHRISTMAS AND ALL I CAN DO IS THANK MY HIGHER POWER AND AA FOR KEEPING ME SOBER. I AM ONE GREATFUL ALCOHOLIC. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
Member: Marc W
Location: Santa Fe, NM
Date: 12/23/2001
Time: 7:15:10 PM
I'm Marc and I'm an Alcoholic. This is my first online visit to the "ROOMS", and so far it's pretty cool. I surrendered on July 13, 1999 and I haven't had to go back out since, which for a drunk like me is a blessing to be 2 years and 5 months away from King Alcohol. I am also grateful for AA and as I was taught Graditude is best shown in my actions, so hopefully tonight when I go to the Sunday Night Meditation Meeting here in Santa Fe, NM, I might be able to listen to someone else who needs it more than I do. Thanks for letting me share and hopefully I might get to meet some of you all as we walk this path with our purpose.
Member: sam
Location:
Date: 12/23/2001
Time: 9:00:26 PM
as we say down here you can not be grateful and hateful at the same time
Member: charlotte b
Location: Graceville, Florida
Date: 12/23/2001
Time: 9:12:49 PM
Hi everyone, I am Walter B's wife. Known locally as the Chipmonk. He has been very ill & I asked Sanders to ask for prayers & good thoughts. Wanted everyone to know that Walter is much better & is back to the meetings that he loves. Merry Christmas & lots of love to everyone,
Charlotte B. wbcp@lycos.com
Member: kimberley
Location: woodland wa
Date: 12/23/2001
Time: 11:15:12 PM
hello everyone my name is kimberley and im a grateful recovring alcholic, i would have never thought that life without booze can be so beautiful, i look at my life today and in in awe at it all, the service part for me keeps me sane ane even more humble, i freely give my time talent and loe without wanting nothing in return, to all of you ou there whos first sober christmas is coming god bless you for freely sharing your strength, and hope and experience, keep coming back and dont quit before the miracle, what helped me with family is to just say the serenity prayer in m head over and over again, also the telephone doeswork reach out i know its hard but believe me you will be helping someone too, have a great holiday.
Member: Chris K.
Location: New Jersey
Date: 12/23/2001
Time: 11:17:52 PM
Merry Christmas everyone. Remember, you hit your bottom when you quit digging!
Member: Mark
Location: D
Date: 12/23/2001
Time: 11:51:59 PM
Hello, i am Mark D.I am a greatful recovering alcoholic.I am from north Michigan,I had 2 previous Christmases without booze, but I was in prison for a drinking related crime I am only $months sober now.I am pretty scared about going through the holiday.I have a great sponsor he helps me alot.I just want to thank you all for being here anytime i need to talk.God Bless and have a sober Christmas.
Member: AZbill
Location: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Date: 12/24/2001
Time: 12:18:54 AM
Hello, Bill here, Alcoholic from Arizona. Good to be here and good to be sober.
The first time I said, "My name is Bill and I am an alcoholic" was the first time I had spoken a truth about my self in a long long time.
To tell you the truth, I am not all that tickled to be an alcoholic. But I am grateful that I found out I was. I am grateful that I know what to do about it. I will do the same thing over the holidays to maintain my sobriety as I do over the non-holidays. I drank on a daily basis and I recover on a daily basis. AA's recovery system works 24 hours a day all 365.whatever days a year.
I do not use the holiday season to mourn my not being able to drink. You see, I once had the privilege of being able to drink alcohol safely. But I abused that privilege so badly that it was removed. It does not behoove me to cry about it.
I can sum up my gratitude with an incident that occured at work some years ago. I sneezed and my Boss said "Bless you" Without thinking I said back. "Thank you, I have been". Boss: "Not lately I'll bet". I answered,"When I put my feet on the floor this morning and they worked. Then things got better from there". He stood there with a puzzled look on his face for a second and said, "You know,Bill, you're right. I never quite thought of it that way". :)
My life started to improve the very moment I put down my last drink. I hope it never stops.
I wish you all a great holiday season and hope that nothing occurs in your life that an 11th Step won't fix. :)
Bill
az-bill@mindspring.com
Member: ted
Location:
Date: 12/24/2001
Time: 1:45:31 AM
remember love is a fart
Member: ted
Location:
Date: 12/24/2001
Time: 1:45:40 AM
remember love is a fart
Member: Ciciley
Location: Altadena, CA, USA
Date: 12/24/2001
Time: 1:57:49 AM
Hello and Happy Holiday's to All!!
My name is Ciciley and I'm a real Alcoholic.
To the newcomers who have shared....I stay sober one day at a time. The holiday's are all ways hard for me because of my expectations..."Why can't I drink like a LADY just for the holiday's?....because to drink is to die for me!" I hope you stay close to AA family for the coming few days and remember you can excuse yourself from family and hit a meeting.
Someone once said to me I may go crazy but I won't get drunk. The hard part for me is when I get "crazy" my solution in the past was to get drunk. Today I ask for help at meetings, from my sponcer and other women alcoholics in recovery. Doing those things has kept me form the DRINK but I still have to work. Other people and meetings can do only so much for me. So this year for Christmas I am praying more, writing more, and generally taking care of me. Those were the last things on my mind during the holidays before soberity (I was to busy controling everything and everyone to look at me)
My prayer for my fellow drunks in recovery is that you keep coming back (here to the staying cyber) sharing your experience streigth and hope with me and others around the world.
May God Bless U and Keep U All!!! Happy Holidays!
Ciciley
Member: Brian F.
Location: Orlando, FL
Date: 12/24/2001
Time: 4:40:27 AM
Hi everyone! My name is Brian and I AM an alcoholic. I believe I proved that beyond any doubt this last year. 6+ months sobriety, but still full of self pity. I was feeling pretty down till I came here and saw the message I needed. I've lost gratitude in the last few days. Thanks for being here, everyone.
Member: Sylvia T.
Location: Canada
Date: 12/24/2001
Time: 5:37:29 AM
Hi, my name is Sylvia and this is my first sober christmas also.I am glad to see that ther is so much help out there for you and for me. Together we can. I wish everyone a very merry christmas and a happy new year and many, many more. God bless you all. Thanks for being here and sharing.
Member: David M.
Location: Woodstock, Il.
Date: 12/24/2001
Time: 8:18:02 AM
My name is David and I'm an alcoholic. Very grateful for the AA program, and a higher power that never leaves. I thank you all for the gift of sobriety, and for being here today. Have a great and sober holiday.
Member: Fred M
Location: MD
Date: 12/24/2001
Time: 8:30:18 AM
I'm Fred, a grateful recovering alcoholic and member of AA. When I think of gratitude, I put "freedom" at the top of the list. When I was drinking, I was in a self-constructed prison, unable to escape. Now, I am free to be the best person I can be. Next, I am thankful for being able to see the blessings of my daily existence. When I was drunk, it was the result I was interested in, and not the process of my life. I once told my wife that life was just another thing to be gotten out of the way. Now, I can see that life is a series of endless opportunities and blessings, and that these blessing are granted to me one day at a time by a forgiving higher power. Finally, I am thankful to AA for the awareness that has come. With this awareness, I can identify sooner when I am angry, lying, or just being a jerk. With awareness, I have a chance at being honest and correcting my mistakes. Awareness leads to honesty and honesty leads to action, if I am working my program. In fact, I agree with another member who taught me that awareness is spirituality. I guess I can sum it up by saying in sobriety, I am once again glad to be alive. Thanks for letting me share. Fred
Member: John X
Location: AZ
Date: 12/24/2001
Time: 10:16:36 AM
Hello everyone. I'm John and I'm an alcoholic. I come from a long line of alcoholics dating back to the 1800's as far as I know. It is a sad situation to see someone blow up at family members during the holidays due to over-indulgence. Not to mention the extra pounds it adds to our puffy exteriors. I only hope that these discussions with you, and the understanding that we are not alone, will help me [and you] get thru some of the most difficult drinking times - the Yule season. Best sober wishes!!
Member: Craig L (Dogmanor@yahoo.com)
Location: Aloha, OR
Date: 12/24/2001
Time: 11:18:33 AM
I just learned my cousin killed himself after struggling with addiction. It was four Christmases past that I laid in my bed with a loaded 45 at my head. I always hated the holidays as it seemed God was rubbing my face in the desolation of my life. The blinds were pulled shut, the phone machine could hold no more unanswered messages and my mail box was jammed full with mail I had not picked up. I was terrified of everything and it took every ounce of my energy to keep liquor handy. I did not believe anyone could experience such loneliness and continue to breathe. It was in that misery I had my first spiritual experience directing me to AA. I wasn’t completely done then, but I knew there was a solution. This is my third sober holiday. I awoke this morning by myself feeling far from alone. First I have a loving God personal to me, who is always with me. Gratefully I have a busy AA schedule of meetings and individual people ahead of me. Finally my relationship with my family is being healed. If you are new or just struggling, I promise you that your misery is self-imposed. You are loved and deserve the gifts of Joy, which are yours for the asking. You have done nothing, which can not be forgiven, as you come on the journey of the 12 steps with us.
Member: Melissa B.
Location: Canada
Date: 12/24/2001
Time: 12:27:05 PM
I am so grateful that I can come here and sit and read and borrow some of your gratitude for myself. It's always there if I choose to turn my thoughts toward the light.
Although there are troubling parts of my life right now, I can sit here and thank God and you for my third sober Christmas and remind myself that my life, too, has gotten better and better since I stopped drinking. I can feel my life now and know there is a point to it, and I could never do that before.
To each and everyone of you who posted above, my deep thanks. You've helped a lot today. You really made a difference. A Merry Christmas, and the bless- ings of sobriety to us all. Lots and lots of love, Melissa, a grateful alcoholic.
Member: Patricia
Location: NEW YORK
Date: 12/24/2001
Time: 12:34:20 PM
Hi to all my AA Family. First of all, I would like to welcome all the newcombers and people coming back, a HAPPY, HEALTHY, SOBER HOLIDAY! I am so grateful to be sober and not have to indulge in alcohol, make a drunken idiot out of myself. The gift of sobriety is the best blessing any recovering alcohlic could ever receive. Thank you John H for your wonderful topic - BEING GRATEFUL FOR SOBRIETY! LOVE TO ALL
Member: Charlie Darling
Location: Key West, FL
Date: 12/24/2001
Time: 3:01:34 PM
HAPPY HOLIDAYS my Family, I am so gratful for all of you, for always being here for us Alcholics, and I have been blessed to have my Family of Alcholics and addicts for without you all I would be nothing, but with you I am someone to want to be around. Thank you all and wishing you the best, soberist(if it's a word) Holiday ever, as we owe it to ourselves and our other families to be clean and sober and give them the gift of staying that way. I LOVE YOU all. Charlie Darling kwduke_1999@yahoo.com
Member: Gage
Location: South
Date: 12/24/2001
Time: 3:39:03 PM
Thankyou, John H, for a gratitude meeting! My name is Gage, and I am an alcoholic. I love the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. I love the wonderful, sick and shaking newcomers, the long-sober and everything in between. I see miracles happen everyday. I came here a broken and disgusting drunk. I could not stop drinking for love of anything or anybody. I tried many times to control my drinking. When that failed, I tried to stop altogether, but I couldn't. I have a young son and I wanted to die sober so that he wouldn't have to live with the stigma of having had a drunk for a dad. I would have killed myself but I didn't want to leave him that legacy either. I told that to the man who took me to my first meeting, and he laughed. I didn't think there was a damn thing funny about it, but he told me that someday soon I would understand. I do. And to any one of you who've had thoughts like that let me tell you, AA doesn't offer you a way to die sober. It offers you a way to live sober! And it's a great life! More than I bargained for.
Member: Sarah
Location: NW USA
Date: 12/24/2001
Time: 6:29:09 PM
Happy Holidays!
I was a Hopeless Drunk when I walked through the doors of AA. This is the gift I recieved...
I heard people laughing as they shared their Experience, Strength and Hope. I saw a light and smiles in their eyes. I felt some forgiveness in their hearts and love in their spirits.
A while back I read a beautiful quote on Staying Cyber from Margaret L. from Indiana ... "You and I are a miracle - my problem is remembering I'm the reciever of a miracle and not the creator of one."
This quote will help me have Happy Holidays when things get a little rushed and tense and "I" want to be in control.
Thanks, one and all for the gift of "Healing Power"
Member: Curtis L
Location: Goliad, TX United States of America
Date: 12/24/2001
Time: 7:16:53 PM
First, I'd like to wish all of you a serene and safe holiday season. On gratitude, I didn't know what it meant when I arrived at AA. If 'good' things happened to me, I thought I'd earned them, or beat someone out of them, and if bad things happened, I always blamed someone else; never myself. During the past 16 years, I've learned that gratitude is an action word. If I'm grateful to God, you'll see it in my actions. Now, I do have someone, God, to be grateful to, and I can do it all the time if I'm spiritually fit. When I was a couple of years sober, I'd tell this in AA meetings "My HP lives in traffic signals; if I get a green light, I thank him for speeding my journey, and if I get a red light, I thank him for teaching me patience." So, as long as I remember that God is in control and all things come from Him, then I can be grateful for the good and the seemingly bad. Works for me. Love and Hugs in the Fellowship of Recovery, Curtis
Member: Gage
Location:
Date: 12/24/2001
Time: 7:19:29 PM
I'm sorry to double-dip, but I wanted to share something with John X. John, remember that God doles our days out to us one day at a time. Even during the Christmas season. God bless us all, and Merry Christmas to all of my brothers and sisters.
Member: Les
Location: San Diego
Date: 12/24/2001
Time: 8:20:14 PM
Thank you John H. for the subject.
One of the things that I have learned to do, through the persistent reminders from the alcoholics who came before me, is to make a gratitude list. When I get to feeling sad and sorry for myself making a gratitude list with pencil and paper has never failed to cheer me up. What I'm grateful for right now is the postings I've just read here on the Discussion Meeting. Thank you folks.
Congratulations to the AA members celebrating their first Holiday Season sober. You will look back on 2001 with a great deal of fondness. Making it through the Holidays the first time without a drink is a really big deal. It certainly was for me. There is another thing I'm grateful for right this minute is I get to see and share a very important part of your life. If you don't understand that right now, its OK because you will and I'll bet some of you already do. There is so much joy to be grateful for when you get to watch new people come into AA stop drinking and find the wonderful way of life that we have.
So; Sylvia T. Michael C. Kevin D. Brian F. Hang in there, and that goes for all the rest of us. You to Gage, my friend.
Merry Christmas
atwoodles@aol.com les_1 PT
Member: Tony
Location: Doncaster UK
Date: 12/24/2001
Time: 8:32:19 PM
Hello, Tony, grateful recovering alcoholic. A merry Christ-Birth to everyone here.
Thanks,John, for the theme.
Gratitude is a most important ingredient in my recovery, for without it I would eventually take my "sobriety" for granted, and convince myself I am well enough to go back out and try again. This is where my often resurgent Ego wants to take me, but humility through gratitude keeps me from following through.
It wasn't always so. Gratitude did not come easily. After 27 years of daily self-anaesthesis, living life without the anaesthetic proved tough. Not that I wanted to drink, I just had trouble facing the feelings.
But I worked a daily program suggested by my sponsor, part of which was expressing gratitude for what I had - even if I didn't mean it, and I nearly choked on the words. But gradually, I came to mean it. Some might call this programming myself, and I wouldn't argue - this is, after all, a program! But I would rather say I was deprogramming myself of my isolation and self-pity, both of which would at best make my dryness a miserable endurance, or at worst take me back to drinking.
The miracle today is less that I am not drinking, but more that I am happy not to be drinking. Without gratitude this would not have been possible
Thanks. TonySoberToday@aol.com
Member: Lessa
Location: Travelling in Texas
Date: 12/24/2001
Time: 8:52:18 PM
Hi, Lessa E here, grateful recovering alcoholic. Thanks very much for the gratitude theme, John. I've read some really good shares here so far.
I had to laugh - at myself - when a couple of you touched on slightly resenting not being able to drink during the holidays. I sure resented that, too! That's because I conveniently forgot how many times I would sneak some of my Dad's 'extra strength' eggnog - and have to be told the next day what a fool I'd made of myself. Or, later on, after my drinking had progressed to a point where I had to take it underground and drink alone at home, I would leave midnight mass as soon as I could to rush home and drink myself into oblivion. And then be dreadfully hung over the next day when I went to visit family. Oh my, to try to put on a happy front when your head is aching, your stomach is churning and your eyes are redder than Rudolph's nose!!!! And those were my 'good ole days'. (*VBG)
I can't tell you what a blessing it is to be able to wake up with a clear head, a light heart and the absence of fear. To have meetings to go to where people just like me understand me and my past. To be working a program that really works. And to have good folks like you to share my recovery with.
I'm very grateful for the program, the people in it, and, perhaps most of all, to my HP whom I choose to call God, who saw me through several relapses into this recovery. Thanks very much for letting me share.
Member: joe k.
Location: Huntsville, TX
Date: 12/24/2001
Time: 10:22:41 PM
My name is joe, and I'm an Alcoholic.
I am one of those drunks who was "pissed-off" about not being able to drink. For the first four and one-half years of my sobriety, although experiencing moments of serenity and joy, my general attitude was always "pissed-off." In fact, I used to introduce myself, "My name is joe, I'm an alcoholic and I'm not as pissed-off about that today than I was when I first sobered up." I was trying to be truthful, but to my own detriment. Actually, I just didn't know how to NOT be pissed-off.
Although somewhat disgruntled, life continued in spite of my displeasure. Then at four and a half years sober, I suffered a series of events which brought my world down around my ankles. I was consumed by self-pity once again, and life hurt beyond belief. All this occurred even though I was "doing the deal" (not drinking, going to meetings on a regular basis, working the steps with my sponsor, working with other alcoholics, doing service work, etc.). This was not supposed to happen, but here I was suffering anxiety attacks and quite decided that it made more sense to drink than not.
I'll not go into the miraculous details of how God brought me through that ordeal. Suffice it to say, I came out on the other side of that period in my life sober, and ABSOLUTELY GRATEFUL for the first time in my life. It was the first BIG revelation that God actually IS doing for me what I cannot do for myself, although sobriety has been peppered with smaller incidents proving the same point.
I stand here today, a sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous, a blessed child of a wonderful God, with a loving and gracious wife, three wonderful children who love me, an extended family who think most highly of me, two grandchildren who cling to their 'Granpa' with loving arms and grinning faces, warm clothes and a full stomach. Much more important than all of that, I can find inside myself the desire to share love with those around me. I look around me and see beauty in nature and other people, rather than the ugliness I had lived in for so many years. My todays are much more important than my yesterdays and tomorrow, which make them ever so rich.
On and on and on... I have only a God of my understanding, Alcoholics Anonymous, and many folks just like you to thank for this wonderful gift. Thank you, and God bless you on your journey.
joe k. chillbmp@totalzone.com
Member: Corinne B.
Location: Camino, CA
Date: 12/25/2001
Time: 1:59:20 AM
Merry Christmas ((Everyone))!!
The Holidays used to be very hard for me because I set myself up in advance for them to be hard, just by thinking way ahead of time - "Oh, Geez, Oh Man! The holidays are coming up and that's gonna be a huge bummer!" Or "Winter's coming up and that's gonna be a real long, sad season for me this year for sure!" Or "It's Monday and a full week at work, and that's gonna be a major pain in the ass!"
Sobriety as opened up a whole new idea for me, and that is this: how I see the world is all in my own perception! All I had to do was decide it could be better, that I could view the world in a positive light, rather than a negative one, and the world would appear different than it had before! It was really that simple!
I've been reading in Emmett Fox's "Sermon on the Mount" and it says that same thing in there right in the very first chapter!
So, if the topic in here this week is Gratitude, I'm in! In Gratitude, In A Very Big Way!
Member: Dian Y
Location: m,v., California
Date: 12/25/2001
Time: 2:14:14 AM
I just wanted to so thankyou to all of you who contributed to this format. I was so grateful to red about the joy and hope in your lives. I have a difficult time during this holiday and I wanted to share that you reminded me that I am never alone and can have serenity whenever i CHOOSE. Thanks again and have a blessed holiday season
Member: JACK B
Location: PALO ALTO, PA
Date: 12/25/2001
Time: 2:27:11 AM
Hi, I am Jack, a real alcoholic. Sober today thru the amazing Grace of God and Alcoholics Anonymous. The key for me to good sobriety is I am useful today, no more no less, just useful. I have a reason to get up in the morning. I am grateful that I have been given a second chance at life and the wonderful opportunity to give back what was freely given to me. For that I am eternally grateful. Merry Christmas and God Bless.
Member: Jan BB
Location: Paris, France
Date: 12/25/2001
Time: 4:46:39 AM
Oh John, thank you and I am counting my blessings! This is my 13th continuous sober christmas and they have and are the best years of my life! I have more gifts in sobriety than I can count. The first being my relationship with HP,whom I call God and the 12 steps of AA.
I have a loving husband that I met in the rooms, we have been married for almost four years and have a terrific three year old boy to share the joy of christmas with! We will be off to the mid-day christmas meeting here, all three of us.
It just get's better and better as I put one sober day next to another sober day.
Merry Christmas ((Everyone)) Love to you all Don't leave before the miracle!
Member: Dinah VKP
Location: Brookfield, WI
Date: 12/25/2001
Time: 4:56:32 AM
Happy Christmas Everyone, I too, am a grateful recovering Alcoholic. Couldn't sleep, so here I am talking to you so I don't go bonkers. I am so grateful for this program, and when I see people (family members) still suffering from this disease, this time of year affects me more than others...but then I am just a sensitive person. Thanks for being here, and keep on keepin' on! Lots of Love and Hugs!!!
Member: Steve K
Location: Bethel, N.Y.
Date: 12/25/2001
Time: 10:49:33 AM
Hi! Steve alcoholic. Remember! If you are going on a 1000 mile trip.You have to take that first step.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!
Member: NORM P
Location: INDIANA
Date: 12/25/2001
Time: 11:09:01 AM
I am always grateful my last drunken Christmas was in the last millenium and not even in the past decade. I'm with those of you who can't enjoy Christmas as we know it. That's because its a lie,a celebration of greed. I approach it with fear hoping it won't be too bad and this one wasn't. That is NOT because I got a bunch of "stuff" I don't need anyway. You can't buy it in a store. It has been said Christmas consists of "spending money you don't have to buy things nobody needs to impress people you don't even like." I had a good Christmas but I won't call it a merry one because what I was reminded of are all those who are so much less fortunate than I, those who have lost loved ones. I went to our family dinner and ,at the end,my sister called us all together and announced that one of our cousins drank himself to death and his father found him in the house he had rented to him. Another of his children works in New York and hasn't been heard from since 9/11. We have no reason to believe he is dead but we would all like to know he is alive and we don't know that. My poor uncle is spending this Christmas with his only surviving sibling in Wisconsin who is dying of cancer. Two friends have e-mailed me with reports of serious illnesses and deaths in the family. And I didn't know any of the victims of 9/11 but they are all suffering this year,without their loved ones and probably without income since then,also. They have lost everything that mattered. My picture of a perfect Christmas is to spend it quietly alone with the one I love. That didn't happen;I just got a divorce. Everyone asked me how I'm dealing with it;they are concerned. I'm free! No problem at all! My son is with me from the group home as always and I am surrounded by loving friends. I am not alone. And,for that,I am grateful.
Member: Rev. Pamela
Location: Wharton, NJ
Date: 12/25/2001
Time: 3:53:39 PM
Thanks Norm for sharing & reminding all of us that we can stay sober through anything, even our 1st sober holiday. 10 years ago when I had 2 years soberity, my mother died on Xmas eve. It was really rough time. The people in the rooms helped me & I'm sure some got sick of me sharing about it, but I stayed sober. The beauty of my mom's death is I feel her love aound me quite a bit, she really proved to me there is life after death & showed me how important it is to live this life to my fullest God potential! Because of this program I chose to become a Interfaith Spiritualist minister. Xmas is not the only holiday this time of year, so I want to wish every one a HAPPY HOLIDAY, which ever one you celebrate. And remember to enjoy today, you never know when it could be your last.
Member: carolyn
Location: southeast
Date: 12/25/2001
Time: 4:41:51 PM
Hello Family - Carolyn - alcoholic - hope everyone has a sober day - i am gratful today for all the things i no longer have to do - AA may not have opened the doors of heaven but it sure opened the doors of hell and set me free - i owe it all right here if there was no AA or 12 steps i know were i would be - i would be dead long long ago - ever day is another gift -i am grateful just to be here
if you maybe having a less than happy day - look back from were you have come - you can go back there any time and you do not need me to tell you the way back - next time you make a list of good in you life - turn the paper over and make a list of what you do not have to do now
happy day to all thanks for being here carolyn
Member: Lyla D
Location: Polk City, Fl
Date: 12/25/2001
Time: 7:00:06 PM
To all, Merry Christmas. It was an ok day for me. Watched videos with my husband all afternoon. "White Christmas", "Miracle on 34th Street", and "Grumpy Old Men". Needed to laugh and cry and did both. (((((((CRAIG)))))) I have a cousin out there that is killing himself slowly with this disease. You have my sympathy and my prayers. I'm glad you are sober and here.
Member: Dan H.
Location: Henderson/LV,NV
Date: 12/25/2001
Time: 10:28:28 PM
I'm Dan and as Jack put it, a real alcoholic. It's important for me to remember that fact. Today is Christmas, Just another day in recovery to me. God bless all.
Member: Leif B.
Location: New England
Date: 12/26/2001
Time: 2:45:03 AM
Hello , Everyone . A lot of what I heard at many of the meetings I attended early on in Sobriety has gradually filtered through the layers of Self - Absorption , Stubborn Pride , and our 'ol Pal Fear . One of the things I've finally come to believe , is that I really only have control over my Attitude , nothing else ..(And no - ONE ! ) I am , as used to be called : Not A "Joiner" - a Loner's Loner, if you will . Of course , during the inevitable Progression of my Alcoholism , I desperately wanted - Needed - to a "Part Of " but drifted further and further out to Sea with each shot of Whiskey until my sole companions were "The Three Furies " , as I call them : Loneliness , Emptiness, and Pain . I felt like a Wretch and an Outcast - Homeless, although I had a physical Home , Spiritually dead .
As I've heard said , AA could stand for Attitude Adjustment . When I'm Grateful , I've more than Enough ; when I'm drenched in Self-Pity , Life Stinks , and so does my attitude .
That incredible feeling of "coming Home " when first in AA kept me coming . I eventually found a definition of the word Salvation was "To Come Home ."
With my Higher Power at the Helm , and You Folks , I Never Have To Be Alone Again !
Member: Sandra M
Location: sydney, australia
Date: 12/26/2001
Time: 9:22:45 AM
Hello all, Season's Greetings. I'm relieved I've made it so far without a drink- or a drug- a four months. I'm still feeling quite strange and weird as my life has changed drastically in recent times. I find the effect of AA on me hard to explain and understand. I think humility and gratitude are slowly penetrating my self-absorption, fractured sense of identity etc. I'm very glad i'm sober and clean, but I'm stunned as I didn't plan it and didn't think I wanted it. The entry price was very high. It's great to hear you guys, like at all the meetings I go to, say the best is yet to come.
Faith is the opposite to fear. I need to remind myself to put one foot infront of the other, live in the day, stick to the suggestions, and practice humility and patience. I know I'm changing as I feel so much calmer and members keep encouraging me. It's an amazing fellowship.
God (of your own understanding) bless, Sandra
Member: Michael P
Location: Easton, PA
Date: 12/26/2001
Time: 9:43:39 AM
Merry day after Christmas all, !st time visitor here
Member: chris
Location: highcountry
Date: 12/26/2001
Time: 11:20:51 AM
Chris here a greatful recovering alcoholic. Blessings to everyone in this holiday season, and many prayers for 2002. Also, I have a special prayer for a friend of mine in the program who is newly sober from drugs and alcohol. She has been through much and has a beautiful spirit too. I hope and pray she has the willingness to stay sober, a day at a time, and do what she needs to do so she can have a sober year. My prayers are with the still suffering alcoholics, that they may find peace and refuge from the savages of compulsion for drugs an alcohol.
Many prayers for peace and blessings to you all!
Member: Jenn
Location: GA
Date: 12/26/2001
Time: 2:01:38 PM
Merry Christmas everyone...I am not very greatful, happy, merry, etc. I do not feel good that I am not drinking, at least not completely. I haven't had a drink in 3 weeks, and that seems like 3 years to me. I am new at this and right now I feel alone. My fiance says he supports me yet he made himself a nice drink when we argued Christmas Eve. That felt really good. Right now the only thing keeping me from drinking is my daughter. I need help.
Member: Greg N
Location: MI
Date: 12/26/2001
Time: 3:51:33 PM
Happy Holidays...I hope all out there had the same blessed holiday that I had spent with family and friends in the program. As with many f you that have been here previous to my scribblings, I too am grateful to be healthy, happy, and sober this holiday. To anyone out there reading this who may be thinking of picking up a drink, think again...read back and see how many of us there are who are so grateful for our sobriety this holiday. Happy Holidays!
Member: Kelly F.
Location: St. Louis
Date: 12/26/2001
Time: 4:44:03 PM
Hi all/Kelly F./alcoholic.
((Jenn-GA)) I hope you're able to get to a meeting today. The fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous is where I need to be when I feel alone. When you go, get lots of phone numbers from the women there and USE them... When "life" happens, the best thing I can do for myself is to talk to another sober alcoholic. Happy, merry, grateful will come!! I have a beautiful daughter, too, and honestly believed in early sobriety that she was my reason to stay sober -- Thank God for AA where I learned I wanted it for myself, and I only had to do it one-day-at-a-time.
Thanks everyone for the wonderful posts on gratitude. I'm very grateful to be sober today. We had a great Christmas. It was heaven to lay my weary head down last night and sleep so peacefully instead of passing out like I used to on Christmas night. Woke up this morning feeling great, so we all went ice skating.
It's really great to be sober.
Member: Kevin B
Location: IL
Date: 12/26/2001
Time: 6:51:33 PM
I am very Grateful for AA for taking me in after I had destroyed my life and others, AA gave me a new life and its turned out better than I could of dreamed AA has restored me to my approprate place in my family and society and for that I am very grateful!!1st visit
Member: Timothy
Location: cincinnati, oh
Date: 12/26/2001
Time: 6:59:19 PM
Hi everyone!My name is Timothy, a very grateful recovering alcoholic. Sandra, I love your comments about not planning your recovery the way you planned your addiction. That was definitely my story! I felt like I had awakened from a dream and felt like a damn fool! Of course, now I recognize it was the smartest move I ever made and am simply grateful I got the chance before my health deteriorated or life ended. My friend was not so lucky. Jenn, get to a meeting...tonight. Don't assume your partner isn't supporting you, but don't expect him to be your sponsor. He can have a drink if he wants; you can't. Period. Let your daughter be your motivation until you can love yourself enough to do it for you. Thanks everyone for letting me share.Merry Christmas to all who are making new holiday memories in their lives! God Bless.
Member: Jamie B
Location: Iowa
Date: 12/26/2001
Time: 7:27:46 PM
I am very greatful for my sobriety today. Guys like me aren't supposed to have a life like I do. I threw everything away for oblivion and Gods grace has given it back to me.I am eternally greatful to God and my brothers and sisters in AA. For I believe that God talks to me through you guys. Today I have the tools to stay sober and make it threw life one day at a time with out hurting myself or anyone eles. That I believe is a gift that i could lose at any given day if I fail to live life the way God has intended me to, the AA way. I have so many people that accept Jamie for Jamie that is truly a blessing. And over all i think Jamie being o.k. with Jamie is the biggest gift I could have recieved this Christmas or any other day. TODAY I CAN BE COMFORTABLE IN MY OWN SKIN IF I CHOOSE TO !!! HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT SEASON AND CHOOSE TO BE SOBER AND HAPPY FOR TODAY.
Member: joe k.
Location: Huntsville, TX
Date: 12/26/2001
Time: 8:28:04 PM
JENN from GA -- Like the others here, I recommend you get to a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous. You obviously realize you are less than you wish to be for your daughter, and for yourself. I am well aware of the loneliness and the desperation you are feeling, there is no deeper pit without hope than what I felt before finding Alcoholics Anonymous. When the booze quit making that lonely feeling go away, I knew it was the end for me. Alcoholics Anonymous, and the fellowship there, helped me find a way to fill that void without the booze. My prayers are with you.
God bless you on your journey.
joe k. chillbmp@totalzone.com
Member: Mark W.
Location: St. Louis
Date: 12/26/2001
Time: 9:30:03 PM
Thank you each and everyone for the shares.
Gratitude: Well here goes;
In the year 2001, I got a divorce from a woman I had loved. She got all the money, and half of my retirement from 25 years work. We were married for only nine. The company I worked those twenty five years for, decided they no longer needed me. The IRS decided that I was a lowlife who had paid too little in, and billed me fifteen thousand dollars. Mind you I am not working when I get this bill. Things changed rapidly. I never got to interview, and send out many resumes. A former customer found out I was unemployed. He called me! I now work there. Not as much money, but that will come.
Well, this holiday season is one of the best I've ever had. I've been sober for nearly six years, and the gratitude is easy to see and feel. My 18 year old daughter called while I was writing this. She was not here Christmas day. She was not in great part because I talked her into going to see her mom. She had decided to come live with me a year and a half ago. While she loves her mother, and her stepmother, she chose to stay with dad. My son came over Christmas day, and we exchanged gifts. His was a Risk game, which he learned from me years ago. He is now twenty five. We played a game while he was here. Five or six years ago he told me he wanted nothing to do with me, and if he ever married or had kids, I would not be told. My bills are paid, due to higher power taking care of me. My girlfriend liked her gift, and we were together yesterday and the day before as well. Christmas Eve, we visited my brother and sister. They had had little to do with me in the past. It seems I was not of much use for anything. I took my sister a loan to pay for her perscription medicines, as well as a gift. Several hours were spent visiting with them. Reading the above posts, and the feelings put on computer, have allowed me to increase my own level of gratitude. In the past, I would not have been able to get past the bad things that happened this year. Today I see those promises mentioned in the big book. THEY DO COME TRUE! Don't quit before the miracle! The life I have today is so much better than any I had in the past that I cannot describe nearly all the positives of the now, nor the negatives of the past.
Don't drink one day at a time, it IS worth it. The promises ARE real and come true, you just have to be able to see them. (Afer the alcoholic fog lifts) (Hi Gage)
Mark W. LMW007@aol.com
Member: Mari
Location: Indiana
Date: 12/26/2001
Time: 9:52:56 PM
Gratitude.....always a topic dear to this alcoholic.
A week or so ago, on the Coffeepot,someone anonymously posted a piece on gratitude written by Melody Beattie which struck a chord with me. I copied the piece, gave some copies to recovering friends, even read it at a meeting (it was short!!). Shared it with my daughter, who is not alcoholic, and has been a great supporter of her mother's sobriety from day one.
Christmas morning, I opened a gift from this daughter which was a printed copy of the gratitude message I was so touched by. She had found it in a 'leadership' booklet of her husband's, cut it out, and framed it for me. It is lovely.
Made me teary, which the rest of the family just did not 'get', but she did. What a gift!
I cannot adequately describe the overwhelming gratitude I have today to be a sober and recovering alcoholic. Probably many who read this know just what I am talking about......and it sure IS a miracle.
God bless us, every one. God loves us, every one.
Member: me
Location: here
Date: 12/27/2001
Time: 3:05:38 AM
I don't get it! I've been in and out of aa for a long time. And I just don't get it. I guess you all should be grateful you do.
Member: Lenny S
Location: Morisset Australia
Date: 12/27/2001
Time: 6:21:19 AM
This is my first time here. Thank you all for being here to share your experience, strength and hope. I will be back. I enjoyed the sharing so far. This is an excellent additive to my sobriety but does not replace face to face meetings, it is a bonus. Lenny
Member: Mark B
Location: Southwest Asia
Date: 12/27/2001
Time: 7:01:16 AM
Mark, dope fiend alcoholic. "IT", huh? I spent a lot of time out running and gunning looking for IT. I tried drugs, booze, women, gambling, fighting, different places, different countries, different languages, women in different countries, with different languages, durgs with different names, booze I never heard of, any combination of those things listed above in massive quantities, and I never could quite get IT right. God know I tried, but IT just kept eluding me. Then I was dragged kicking and screaming in through the doors of AA and told to sit down, shut up and listen, I had nothing to contribute but active disease. Best advice/direction I'd been given in my life to that date. I heard about IT. Over time, not drinking or using, going to those damn meetings all over Germany, I started getting glimpses of IT in my life. I got a sponsor and started doing what he told me to do, and I started experiancing IT in my life. For me, sobriety and life are synonomous, I can't have one without the other, they mean the same thing to me. IT, is a loving God who today does for me what I can't do for myself. I've been all over the world in sobriety, I've done things and met people I always dreamed about from the barstool in the NCO club. I guess the Nike commercial says it best; "JUST DO IT". If you're new, keep coming back, because they never told me it would get better, they just told me it would get different. For somebody like me, I haven't shit myself today, puked on myself today, lied to anybody today, hurt or used anybody intentionally today. Don't know about you all, but for this drunk, that's a miracle. God works in wonderous ways and I'm living proof of it. That's all from the warfront for now, hang tough, see I need ya'all, can't do this alone. Gotta go
Mark
Member: Gail D
Location: Michigan
Date: 12/27/2001
Time: 9:51:22 AM
Hi all,I am Gail,an alcoholic.12-26-01 was my 12 year anniversary.It was great day.Went to a meeting that I had not been to in a long while.Got to see my original sponsor,who gave me my token.Also had coffee afterwards with some folks who were around at my first meeting.Life today is better than I ever would have dreamed possible.I have an eight year old son who has never seen me drink.He is a gift of sobriety.There have been hard times,of course.My son's father(my ex) has lung cancer.He now lives in a spare room in my house.I am grateful that I am able to do this for him today.I hope everyone is having a safe and happy holiday season.Thanks for being here
Gail/Michigan
Member: Gina W
Location: NZ
Date: 12/27/2001
Time: 10:01:53 AM
Hi all. Loved everyone's sharing. Thank you all for being here. After reading most of what was said i realised that I had not been grateful today and therefore had a lonely day. After hearing all of you share I realised that I had become grateful for being sober- I can't we can. I am two years sober and am starting to get that. To "me" from "here"- you don't have to get it in one go. I sure haven't. I stopped drinking out of fear. I got bad stomach pains and literally couldn't stop drinking to go to work. I didn't stop because I knew I was an alcoholic or that I "got it". Perhaps I was given a small gift of faith. I let go just a little bit in order to listen to the people in "the field" who I went to see. They told me to go to AA. That small gift of faith has kept me going and gave me a glimmer of hope in the beginning mixed with a large dose of desperation. All I needed was a tiny piece of faith- very tiny. And there is the miricle. I am still sober after two years- despite me.
Member: Redneck Jake
Location: Out -yonder
Date: 12/27/2001
Time: 3:32:54 PM
Well the first part of the yuletide drinking fest has passed; all the gifts were given (beware of Greeks bearing gifts), and now we embark on what we once called "Amateur's Night!" That is, New Year's Eve! It was called "Amateur's Night!" because everybody who truly didn't know how to drink, drank on that night! But now it is well known that everybody drinks, not only on New Year's Eve but on the other 364 eves as well! And this year they are soaking us with propaganda that 2002 will be the greatest and most prosperous year for all the Bushwacking "American people" who lost something in the 911 Islamic conspiracy! So I have to get ready for that and not be sinking into such bourgeois nationalist complacency! Woe unto them who do! So I'll not only stay away from that first drink, but also that first irrational national crackpot! For me this is the "right thing to do!!"
Member: Jerry
Location:
Date: 12/27/2001
Time: 5:38:16 PM
Jenn,I would recommend your going to a face-to-face meeting in your area. The most important thing is for me to take care of myself a day at a time by going to meetings, talking with my sponsor, and working the steps. You don't have to do it alone.
I believe you will get the support you are looking for at meetings, and by sharing, you will be helping others also.
Mark W., sometimes life isn't easy, but it is much easier than the alternative we'd have, if we were drinking on top of these difficulties. I am saying all this one month after my mom died, my dad ended up in a nursing home, I'm an only child, and I just lost my job. Well, damn it, life isn't fair now is it, but it does get better a day at a time, and a drink solves nothing. Were I to turn to alcohol, all the blessed things I do have would soon be gone with the rest of the stuff, and I have so many friends in AA that are there for me now, I am truly greatful.
Many blessings to you all, and may the New Year be better for us all.
Member: sunny s.
Location: New Bedford, Mass
Date: 12/27/2001
Time: 6:23:36 PM
To the <<<ME>>> who doesn't get it..I will pray for you. If you pray, you can ask for help to get sober and to learn to live sober. You are why we are here. We need you. Don't give up! Keep coming to meetings. Keep asking for sobriety. When you do have some time sober, you will know what to say to the folks in your shoes now. It is a trade that we make. It is the only way that some of us can feel that we deserve help. If you pride or life circumstances have kept you out of detox and other treatment, maybe it is time to accept medical help too. None of us can do this alone. We need each other. We need you.
Member: Janice P.
Location: Chicago
Date: 12/27/2001
Time: 9:02:11 PM
Even though Christmas was a few days ago, Happy Belated Holidays anyways. I have been sober a little over a year now. Boy, what a difference between this Christmas and last Christmas. Last year, I was in emotional turmoil-family problems, legal problems, down and out emotionally. I saw no light at the end of the tunnel. Well, since I have been trying to practice the Steps to the best of my ability, life has gotten so much better. I am learning to love myself, accept and like who I am, and develop a deeper relationship with my Higher Power. I know that I still have a long way to go and I somtimes feel like I don't know what I"m doing at all. But such is life--a journey in which we don't know all the answers.
So this year, the holidays mean so much more to me. Being with the people that I love and care about, and friends that I love and care about. Yes, I am so grateful that I have them, and that I have this beautiful program to teach me how to live life without drinking.
Gratitude is the word of the day. If you have the time, pick up a copy of a little book called "Gratitude: Affirming the Good Things in Life" by Melody Beattie. When self-pity starts to rear its ugly head, I pick it up and read it. It helps me put my life's problems in perspective.
Member: Melissa A.
Location: Vacaville, CA
Date: 12/28/2001
Time: 2:40:14 AM
Hello to everyone out there- my name is Melissa and I am an alcoholic. Very glad to be alive and very thankful to have spent the holidays with the ones that I love. Who would have thought that possible a few months ago? Gratitude is a very important thing. So is believing in a higher power and today I do. God has kept me alive and grateful that I am sober. Happy New Year to everyone- may he bless you with all that is wonderful on this earth. And please remember to let those people out there who you care know that you care.... you never know what may happen tomorrow. Warmest Wishes to all.
Member: Dan H
Location: Alaska
Date: 12/28/2001
Time: 8:14:56 AM
I'm Dan and I'm an alcoholic mess....5 years sober in AA. I live in a small village in Alaska and we only have one meeting a week, usually 2 to 4 people show up. Recent events really have me down and I'm finding it hard to have any gratitude. My wife of 24 years left me 5 months ago and divorced me. I'm trapped in a business I started 2 years ago that I hate and can't find a way out. My youngest daughter got pregnant and moved away to the lower 48. Been here 30 years and am getting tired of 50 below weather. My health is not good either. I've worked so hard to get the sobriety I have and it all seems to be for nothing. It seems like the only thing I have left to live for is to wait everyday so that I can die sober. Some goal huh? I sit in this lonely cabin everyday and think "What is the use?" I don't really have any urge to drink though and just keep plodding along, waiting for the day I die. dirtydan@alaska.net
Member: Judy A.
Location: Cocoa, FL.
Date: 12/28/2001
Time: 10:45:05 AM
Hi. Judy, alcohlic. I feel like Dan sometimes and it does suck. But I try to remember all I have learned. Like "this too shall pass", etc. I think it's just a life thing to have ups and downs. But today I feel very grateful. I have a new grandson who will never have to see me drunk, IF I keep doing the things ya'll tell me to do. And this son really loves me today and respects me and all that good stuff. I drank away this son, my only child, when he was little. His dad got rid of me and took my son. Needless to say, my son hated me for a long time. But when he saw me put a few 24 hrs. together, we began a new and wonderful relationship. He never left his dad to come live with me, but that's okay. It worked out the way it was supposed to. And he only lived a couple miles away, so I got to be the "disneyparent". I love being sober today. Even when I don't LIKE it. Thanks for being there for me. ODAT.
Member: royp
Location: los banos,ca
Date: 12/28/2001
Time: 2:04:16 PM
hi,i'm roy and i'm an alcoholic. i finally said it for the first time yesterday. it seems fitting that the topic is gratitude on my first visit. christmas nite for some reason was the first nite i hadn't had a drink in i don't know how long. it turns out there was a reason. that nite i heard from my son who hasn't spoken to me for 10 years because of my drinking. we spoke for quite awhile but never about my drinking. he said he would like to try and start over with me but i had to do my part. i agreed and asked him if he would call again the next nite. i spent the entires next day looking forward to his call. he did call and asked me if i had been drinking and for the first time i could honestly say yes. he asked me to come over the next day so we could see each other face to face. i went over and for the first time i got to see my grandkids. i sat him down, looked at him and finally said the words. i'm roy and i'm an alcoholic. it felt like the weight of the world had been lifted. he hugged me and told me the words i really needed to hear. i love you dad i am commited to staying sober and that's how i found this site. the best wishes to all and i plan on checking in everyday. pray for me if you will
Member: RICHARD M
Location: SARASOTA , FLORIDA
Date: 12/28/2001
Time: 2:05:56 PM
hello, my name is richard....i am an alcoholic. Today is the calender date of m contiguous sobriety (16 years ) since december 28, 1985....plus 4 leap year days ...5844...yeah .........and gratefull for the grace of god which has allowed me to achive this . i could not do this on my own will or the will of others...i am ratefull for finding aa after i lost the desire to drink.......and i am greatfull for the judge that sugested i go to a meeting...... !!!! I love all whom i have met and tolerate the behavior i can not comprehend......e mail me if you WANNA~~~~~RJPMOODY@WEBTV.NET......MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND ALL THOSE YOU LOVE......
Member: Joe K.
Location: N.Y.S.
Date: 12/28/2001
Time: 4:01:34 PM
Hello All, I am sooooooo very grateful that the rotten Xmas holiday is over for another year!lol
I am grateful that, I have been clean & sober since 7-4-1988. My life was a huge mess before, I came into the "Rooms". Life has gotten a whole lot better since, I made the decision to get clean & sober. This word "Gratitude" is not one that I use alot. I sometimes feel it but, other times I don't. Life does suck sometimes but, I don't drink or drug over it anymore. I know that whatever problem life has put in my path, getting drunk or high will not solve them. I know, that if I just "hang on" for a little while longer, it will be Ok. But, if I do "pick up" I will have a Big Mess on my hands, that will take a lot of time and, energy to fix. (if it can be fixed at all) I can tell you that before coming to "the rooms" I was in deep legal S#%t on the Federal,State and Local levels. It wasn't easy but, it was a simple solution; "Don't drink, don't drug and your life will get better." That was no lie!!! I can now tell you that, after coming to "the rooms" I no longer have any legal matters pending, I am back on the road, street legal, I have a very good job, a house, pets... It is a wonderful life at times. I am at least 89.75% happy with the life I have today!lol I am grateful that, I no longer have a crazy drunken stoner driving my bus. I am greatful that, I have a sane, sober, (sometimes serene)person driving my bus today!........Me! :) joe k.
Member: Chris H.
Location: Fla.
Date: 12/28/2001
Time: 5:17:16 PM
I'm CHris -ALcoholic/addict/bulimic---HI all---What a great topic for me today. I was having areally hard time yesterday and this morning when I realized that I had not been reminding myself of all I have to be great ful for. I remember one of the people in my home group saying that whenever he made a gratitude list...sometime during it the magic would happen and he would feel better... well, that happened to me today...about half way through , I could feel the depression lift as I began to realize all of the blessing this Christmas had brought me. FOr one thing, for the first time in years , I have not been depresed..What a miricle. For that I am truly greatful...I am greatful right now that the holidays are almost over along with all of their unrealistic expectations. I am also greatful that I have learned in these rooms that a holiday is just a "day" just like all of the others, and that I should approach it just like I do all of the others---one day at a time. Happy Holidays to all of you . I am truly greatful that all of you are here, sharing your experience, strength and hope.
Member: AZbill
Location: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Date: 12/28/2001
Time: 5:42:25 PM
HI Bill here alcoholic from Arizona. Breaking the rule for double dipping. Write me and I will do a ninth.
Yeah life sucks at times. Life is unfair at times
In 1994 I was terminal with 4 to 6 monthe to live At one year out my docs were shaking thier heads. Told me the only thing that saved my butt was my sense of humor and my attitude.
Just prior to that I quit two jobs and got fired from one and a fourth company ran out of money and closed
AA does not give us a ticket to heaven, nor does it send us to hell. But it will get us sober enough to decide which way we want to go.
Every thing passes except construction on the interstates....
Accentuate the positive. Eliminate the negative
Bill
az-bill@mindspring.com
Member: Bruce A.
Location: Crowsnest,pa
Date: 12/28/2001
Time: 6:33:38 PM
hi everyone, Bruce a , an alcoholic how you all doing? I am grateful to be a recovering member of aa. and I am also glad you are sober today also. I am really grateful for my higher power whom I understand to be the Father,Son and Holy Ghost, who has made this all possible. Love Bruce A from pa ( sober one dat at a time since 9-10-83)
Member: cory g
Location: hart mi
Date: 12/29/2001
Time: 2:10:10 AM
hi i am cory and an alcoholic, im truly greatfull to be sober today. its a stuggle for me to stay sober sometimes but one thing keeps me sober is knowing that it was hell of a lot harder to get sober than it is to stay sober.may we all do gods will just for today
Member: Rich P
Location: Colorado
Date: 12/29/2001
Time: 8:39:54 AM
I have so much to be grateful for. This is my first sober holiday. I still have a job, half the folks at my company no longer do. I don't get out of bed and drag my a$$ through a hangover long enough to get through work and to my next drink. My relationship with my wife and kids is much better. My finances are much better. My health is much better.
The problem is that I am still looking back on the last 10 years of drinking with so much regret. The lost time, lost money, lost years. Most importantly the lost opportunities to be there for someone. Instead I was drinking or thinking about drinking and pissed off at anyone who got in the way of that. I remeber a time when one of best highschool buddies came over, I hid down stairs, pretending I was not home because I was drunk and embarassed that he would find out. (this was noon on a Saturday) I later found out that he had come by to tell me he was gay. Needing a good friend to be supportive when he "came out". I wasn't there, I was drunk. Everyone always says, "One day at a time" and "Today is a gift that is why they call it the present". But I can't seem to "get it".
I guess I figured that my problem was booze and that by setting the bottle down the problems went away. Well the physical problems DID go away. The emotional ones are still here, only no longer numbed by booze or clouded by the pain of a hangover. I need to hand over my will and my life to God and turn around and face TODAY!
I am 45 days sober and struggling with life on life's terms. You all have been a constant source of strength and hope, thank you!
I pray that all of us (((me too))) write off the past a lesson, and embrace today as the gift of life that it is.
My love to everyone.
Rich P
Member: mike m
Location: west
Date: 12/29/2001
Time: 9:25:57 AM
Hi, my name is mike and i am an alcoholic. When i checked this site a few days ago the topic seemed to be gratitude. I scrowlled down today and came upon the term amateur nite in refrence to the way people drink on New Years Eve. I am grateful that i nolonger think of myself as a professional drinker. If there is one thing i really tried to do it was to drink without hurting myself or others. I never did learn how to do that as the destruction from my drinking and thinking fell on me, the dining room furniture and others. For me amateur night was every night. I drank and went places. Eventually some of those places were jails. Today i still go to jails doing hospital and institution work. And with your help i haven't fooled myself about how well i learned to drink in quite a while. For that and many other things i am truly grateful. Everthing i have today worth having today came to me through you and people like you at the tables of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Member: Ed G,
Location: Bryan
Date: 12/29/2001
Time: 11:07:33 AM
Hello Ed alcoholic, I am truly grateful for the AA program. Having sobriety through AA has given me the awareness of so many things I can do while sober. I am grateful for you people on line because when I fill down and out I can get on line for support. So keep it simple and one day at a time. Happy & Sober New Year
Member: Simuel
Location: PA
Date: 12/29/2001
Time: 9:21:12 PM
Hello My name is Sim and I am a greatful recovered alcoholic. I am greatful for the fellowship of Alcholic Anonymous and the program of recovery that was shown to me in the pages of the Big Book. I wish all a wonderful journey into recovery with all the joys that come from following the instructions laid out by the first one hundred. One day at a time I stay in recovery and on my worst days it is better than I could have every planned. God bless all and happy holidays
Member: James A
Location: New Zealand
Date: 12/30/2001
Time: 1:19:12 AM
Hi my name is James I am a alcoholic .I am from new Zealand This is my first time on a web site that has a AA meeting.Its great to read everones comets
Member: Jeff B
Location: Northern CA
Date: 12/30/2001
Time: 3:19:23 AM
Hi my name is Jeff and I am very glad to be sober today. I just got back from visiting family and spending Christmas with them. I am thankful for the gift of sobriety and AA that let me be there and now home. Each sober day is a gift. Thanks to everyone for being here. Best wishes to all for a safe, sober, comfortable, and happy new year.
Member: Me
Location: here
Date: 12/30/2001
Time: 3:25:09 AM
Thank-you everyone for telling me about IT, especially Mark in Asia. God-willing I'll get it! God Bless you all. Happy New Year!