Sobriety Threat Raised From Yellow To Orange

Pain Pills
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I know that many of you are about to approach your first holiday season sober.

T'is the season to relapse, people. The holidays have a thousand subtle triggers that will be going off around you every day. It is easy to find oneself on edge, and worse, to think about a little something to take the edge off.

In the midst of the hustle and bustle of the season, I urge each and every one of you to take a little time each day to count your blessings, and to remind yourself how good it is being sober. A lousy day sober is better than any day spent conducting field research.

Go to a meeting. Try to arrive early because they will be getting a little crowded from now until the New Year. Use it as an opportunity to meet a new friend, or reach out to a newcomer. A smile can be more compelling than a thousand words to someone who is just stumbling through that door.

I encountered my first holiday season at about 8 to 9 months in the wake of having lost my job. I was facing imminent financial ruin, and heck; a big reason I got sober was to try to hold that life together. My old life did not hold together. A part of me died that Christmas. I crumbled and my life collapsed, I blamed all of the people in AA. I cursed them for not understanding. But for some strange reason, I did not use.

What has emerged from the wreckage of that first Christmas is a thousand times better than what I was so foolishly clinging to. I feel so very lucky that my old self and my old life was obliterated in those early days of recovery.

I never would have gotten to the much better place I enjoy if I had followed the near daily impulses I had to use during the Christmas season. Of course it also took working the steps but I'll save that for another sermon.

Guard you sobriety, and have a Happy Thanksgiving.

August, a work in progress.
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BOY YOU HIT RITE IN THE NUT SHELL IM SOBER 7 DAYS IM STRONGE but very sad and scared of life one good next bad next ok but you for your advice dear thank you w\d can be very sad love you gooooooood advice rasie that to red I have to think of all the bad days that will help me love again poopie
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Great post. Thanks August.
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Hey August,
What a great post. I think you really said something important in that a part of you had died during that Christmas. And what a beautiful thing that happened because you gave space for a higher part of you to be born. Thanks for this share.

Yspearing,
You are going poopie!!! Keep hanging on. One day you will be so free you won't realize what a gift you are giving yourself for the holiday and even more your life. Be strong.

August is right holidays can bring up alot of issues. Hold tight to your sobriety and keep your awareness on yourself.

Peace,
PM
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Way to go, Y!! I am so proud of you.
August, you are right, holidays are the hardest. It brings up alot for some. Great advice on the heads up...
I spent my last xmas in treatment...and new years too. Dec 13 should have been my sobriety date...but that day will forever stand out in my mind..
kerry
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Hi Kerry:

I gave my sister her 37th cake tonight, lol. How are you?

Rachel
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Hey guys, this will be my first Christmas clean in quite some time. Good post, it gives me food for thought and will help to keep me on my toes.

Yspearing ( I'm having a hard time bringing myself to call you Poopie, I'll work on that, lol) congradulations on all your hard work. It's a pleasure watching you hang in there and succeed!! I'm so very proud of you.

Kerry, are you nervous about the upcoming holidays? If you told what happened on that day last December, I think I might have missed it. Hang tough girl!! There will be quite a few of us having our first sober holiday. We'll tough it out together. Much love, Kat
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Thanks for the reminder August. Slow day at work here, so I was able to sneak over to a lunchtime meeting that I normally can't get to. It keeps me grounded, that's for sure.

Happy Thanksgiving;
Jim
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Hey Rachel...I hope your sister likes cake...LOL. I would prefer 37 rolls of sushi myself...I could never imagine trying to work off 37 cake slices. Forget it!! I would be walking till xmas non stop.
How are you feeling? Did you go back to work today?
My son is acting like a brat. Not at the extent that he used to, but he wants me to drive him to the other side of the island. He is so spoiled with me. But I stood my ground and held my boundaries.

Kat, I spent my last xmas in treatment, new years also. For vics. I was so desperate to get clean, I had to go then. Like a dumbass, I went back out around the middle of may...and back to teh same place Aug 4 for 9 days.
Anyway, holidays suck big time for me. It is getting better, I try to make it nice for the kids.
kerry
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Little-I TOO was in treatment over last Christmas and New Years. My first treatment ever. It was scary!
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bump
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Liz-what does "bump" mean?
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august,
great post, your always thinking aren't you. gotta love that about you. happy turkeyday
gobble gobble

luv
rae

danny, bump gets the post to the top.
gets the nasty ones out.
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Raerae, one of my favorite lines from the movies is when Robert Redford looks at Paul Newman and says "Yep, you just keep on thinkin' Butch, that's what you're good at."

Congrats on your good news today.

August
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august,
i love that movie. hope your day is good and enjoy tomorrow.
luv
raerae