Tag: Al-anon

12step Al-Anon Inspiration NA Narcotics Anonymous relapse relapse prevention Serenity Prayer

Inside My God Box

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I have a secret. Actually, hundreds of secrets, hopes, fears, desires, wishes all written on little scrapes of paper I’ve collected throughout the years and stuffed into my God Box. This is my way of Letting Go, Letting God – surrendering them to my Higher Power. Instead of worrying, ruminating or obsessing over life, I write it down and Turn It Over. My first sponsor, over 13 years ago, had one. She thought everyone should have one. At first, I thought it was little childish until I went through some…

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12step Al-Anon Inspiration NA Narcotics Anonymous relapse relapse prevention Serenity Prayer

Relapse Scares Me Still

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Relapse from recovery is my number one fear. Falling off the wagon, going out, screwing up: same difference. As a person in recovery for over 10 years, the fear of relapse still scares me sober. And it seems like everyone in recovery I’ve come in contact with has exactly the same fear. Once an alcoholic or addict is “in recovery” and has been clean and sober for a while and continues to go to AA or NA or other 12 Step meetings, relapse is still a very real possibility. Although…

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12step Al-Anon

My stuff is at Bill and Lois W’s House!

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I am so honored! Some of my artwork has been chosen to be showcased at Stepping Stones, the historic home of Bill and Lois Wilson, respective co-founders of Alcoholic Anonymous and Al-Anon in Bedford, NY. Stepping Stones www.steppingstones.org operates as a historic home museum and has a gift shop on site and will be selling some of my jewelry.

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12step Al-Anon

Alcohol – the cheapest drug in America

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I was shopping at Trader Joe’s today and came face to face with a display for house brand Vodka priced at $10.99 for 1.75 litres.  Wow that makes for some cheap booze!  You are looking at 40 drinks for about $0.27 per shot.  Then I looked around some more, I noticed they have wine priced at $2.00 a bottle and that’s a big $0.40 a glass.   That wine has been famously dubbed TJ’s Two Buck Chuck (Charles Shaw Vineyard).  Beer was just as cheap too.  Depending on one’s tolerance, a…

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12step Al-Anon Inspiration

Supportive. Not an Enabler.

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I get many emails from mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, girlfriends and boyfriends of those who have just come into sobriety.  It is to these people, my own loving husband included, that I want to dedicate this blog entry.  Let’s talk about how difficult it is for you to do your part:  You can help. You can encourage.  The most important thing is to not enable the addiction.  Show moral support, faith and love but never enable. Although this Thanksgiving marks a decade of my own sobriety, I can still remember…

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12step

Dear Laura

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I came across this website I would like share with you. The site belongs to musician Brad Mersereau.  He has devoted it to his sister Laura’s memory who sadly did not find her way to recovery and died at 46 from alcoholism.  It is a very powerful reminder that addiction in itself is a form of insanity, it affects our loved ones profoundly, destroys lives and that some of us won’t make it to sobriety. The following is an excerpt from his site, one of a series of very poignant…

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12step

Hellidays II

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We’ve heard it before that people in recovery have it especially hard during the holidays.  Everything from bad memories associated with drinking/using, to seeing loved ones out of control, to having to resist those urges to partake in a little holiday cheer like the rest of society.  The holidays are the ultimate test of the addict/alcoholic’s commitment to sobriety. I personally don’t like the holidays much.  I’m not a very christmasy person, not being traditional makes me feel bad, not giving in to the mass-consumerism makes me feel guilty and not…

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12step

Other’s people drinking bugs me

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Other people’s drinking sometimes gets to me. A few months ago, I witnessed a house guest and very dear in-law of mine get drunk every night on California Merlot. Now this man has been drinking wine with his meals most of his life but within the last few years he went from consuming a half bottle of wine to two bottles a day. His drinking reminded me of my own late father who drank only with his meals, like most Europeans. Growing up I witnessed too many drunken scenes and…

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