Happy New Year Fellow Alcoholics!
While working my 11th Step today I laid in quiet reflection on what I wanted to do differently with my life in 2007 and beyond.
My hope is that my relationship with God remains intact and that I rely on God instead of self-will. I hope to be non-judgemental and replace any anger and rage I have towards others with love, tolerance, compassion and understanding. I hope that I can practice humility far more than I do...and stay in acceptance of the outcome of situations, I must remember I am powerless over people, places and things. I hope to not let others negativity bog my day down and remember I can start my day over at anytime even if it is 11:59 pm.
I hope that I will never lose sight of where I came from (a desperate hope to die alcoholic/addict) or think that others in the rooms of AA who have hit a bottom that was lower then mine are less than ~ we are all equal whether we have one day of sobriety or 50 years of sobriety. I hope to reach my hand out to that newcomer who needs it the most. I know for me, I cannot keep this thing (sobriety) unless I give it away by 12 stepping others. I am so very, very grateful for my sobriety and recovery ~ early on nothing else mattered, and my life was pretty good; now sometimes I put other things above my Program and that just doesn't work for me...I will end with this excerpt from the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (AA Literature) handbook that I read:
Basis of All Humility (12 X 12, p. 72)
"For just so long as we were convinced that we could live exclusively by our own individual strength and intelligence, for just that long was a working faith in a Higher Power impossible. This is true even when we believed that God existed. We could actually have earnest religious beliefs which remained barren because we were still trying to play God ourselves. As long as we placed self-reliance first, a genuine reliance upon a Higher Power was out of the question. The basic ingredient of all humility, is a desire to seek and do God's will."
Hi Geri
I stopped in over here to wish you the best in the coming year- and of course I find a beautiful post.You truely have all your ducks in a row!!
May you continue to find peace in the year(s) to come
jack
BTW- I know that looks like a brewski Im clutching in that Christmas pic- and I think people know that I have a beer or 2 - a couple times of year & I sure dont need to explain .However, thats a Dr.Browns root beer- I dont know if that brand made it out there- but its good stuff. As you can see it keeps me looking my age-( between -25&75)
I stopped in over here to wish you the best in the coming year- and of course I find a beautiful post.You truely have all your ducks in a row!!
May you continue to find peace in the year(s) to come
jack
BTW- I know that looks like a brewski Im clutching in that Christmas pic- and I think people know that I have a beer or 2 - a couple times of year & I sure dont need to explain .However, thats a Dr.Browns root beer- I dont know if that brand made it out there- but its good stuff. As you can see it keeps me looking my age-( between -25&75)
Hey JoH, Yep, I thought that was a brewski in the pic but no judgement on my part, see I am starting off 2007 like I want to, lol! You know I believe that there are several ways that people get clean, get sober, get sober and clean, stay that way, so on and so forth and what works for me, may not work for others...I just need to pull out all the stops for me (12 steps, no drinking, no druggin') because if I had one sip of alcohol, my head goes right to coke....I know cause I tried to do one without the other a gazillion times, for over 20 years. But, what works for you is okay by me, and I feel should be okay by anyone....I know that the Big Book talks about not starting any controversy over sh** like that....I imagined you'd look different than your pic, you look like your in your early twenties! But, I know you are older cause you have a son about my daughter's age, right? I couldn't see the pic very well so I clicked on it to enlarge it....lol! Do they sell that rootbeer everywhere? I loooooooove root beer, but I've never heard of that kind. Well, it's a nice and sunny day out here in SoCal so I'm gonna go out and enjoy it and live it. Thanks for your thoughtful post and for being my pal all this time! Geri
Geri...just wanted to thank you for the beautiful and thought-provoking post...Love ya Gina
PS JoH...no judgement here either...I know a few people who have done "sobriety" differently and it has worked for them...
PS JoH...no judgement here either...I know a few people who have done "sobriety" differently and it has worked for them...
Happy New Year my friend ~ Gina...I really appreciate your loving and kind guidance, also your gentle delivery in regard to the message of sobriety. You, like me, have sure been through a lot and we have a lot in common...thanks for taking my hand and walking me soberly through times that I thought would literally just crush me. I don't think it was a coincidence that you were in SoCal when I was going thru my most trying time. I hope 2007 holds unexpected miracles for all of us here.
Happy New Year VW!!
You are sounding very well, which is good to see!!
Well I now have had 2 sober New Years Eve,s, I didnt go any where stayed at home, just enjoyed my own company, and thats what I desired this year.
Hows K?
I havent been on here as been bloody busy, in the 21 days I have been back in Oz, I have sold my house ...yipeee!! Nearly sold my car, find out by friday,
Got all paperwork for other things in order,
Im leaving Oz on the 18th jan, oh boy here goes again, more planes and head back to my girl in Canada,
Will email you soon,
Take Care Ginge
You are sounding very well, which is good to see!!
Well I now have had 2 sober New Years Eve,s, I didnt go any where stayed at home, just enjoyed my own company, and thats what I desired this year.
Hows K?
I havent been on here as been bloody busy, in the 21 days I have been back in Oz, I have sold my house ...yipeee!! Nearly sold my car, find out by friday,
Got all paperwork for other things in order,
Im leaving Oz on the 18th jan, oh boy here goes again, more planes and head back to my girl in Canada,
Will email you soon,
Take Care Ginge
Hi Ginge!
Great news about the house and car! I'd like to thank you also for being such a great strength of support for me this past year. I'm so very grateful we got to meet each other in person as well! Thanks for asking about K, she has 53 days of sobriety today (right now she is out surfing with her Dad), she may get to go to Six Flags tomorrow with sober friends (still having a hard time letting her go and do things though)....she starts back to school (out of district, new school) on Monday and I start back to work on Monday ~ maybe a little more structure will do us both good, however we have quite a bit of structure going on right now with all of the outpatient activities and meetings we attend. Try to drop me a line via email....I'm so proud of you and congratulate you on staying sober through some very hard times this year too!
Great news about the house and car! I'd like to thank you also for being such a great strength of support for me this past year. I'm so very grateful we got to meet each other in person as well! Thanks for asking about K, she has 53 days of sobriety today (right now she is out surfing with her Dad), she may get to go to Six Flags tomorrow with sober friends (still having a hard time letting her go and do things though)....she starts back to school (out of district, new school) on Monday and I start back to work on Monday ~ maybe a little more structure will do us both good, however we have quite a bit of structure going on right now with all of the outpatient activities and meetings we attend. Try to drop me a line via email....I'm so proud of you and congratulate you on staying sober through some very hard times this year too!
