Clean and Sober reminders and keepsakes. From one Fellow to another
I may be clean and sober for nine years now, but alcoholism and addiction is alive and well in my family. I’m sick of it and I want it to go away, but I have to deal with it AGAIN and AGAIN. I want to share a letter I wrote a friend one today: My friend, I know you are angry, confused and hurt right now. I know because I’ve been there. About 10 years ago, my life was a shambles, my marriage was falling apart, I hated everybody and…
Read MoreThanksgiving is a special time but for me, it marks another year of sobriety. I now have eight years of continued sobriety. During those years, I have experienced the same disappointments and achievements in life as I always have but the difference is that I was able to handle life on life’s terms– just using my instincts, some common sense and I hope, good judgment. It’s been a tough yet wonderfully liberating experience. One thing that I found a bit of challenge is dealing with friends and family regarding sobriety. …
Read MoreWhen I was using, sometimes I felt like I was living in solitary confinement. My addiction was my incarceration–a lonely, frightening and lifeless jail of my own doing. Now that I’m clean and sober there is a whole dimension of solitude I’ve learned to embrace rather than fear. During my first year of sobriety, dealing with solitude was difficult. Like many others entering recovering, I had to let go of friends who used and using patterns I had developed that were social. Although I had developed other social networks with…
Read MoreIt’s a rainy, foggy day and although I like the rain, today’s rain is reflecting my dark and somber mood. I had all these plans to be productive today but somehow I let my mood take over, simply relenting to the dark side. The problems in life overshadowing my plans, poor me. In my using days, these kinds of days really lent themselves to being stoned. I felt crappy so I got high. It would make me feel better, an instant bliss until it wore off and I’d get high…
Read MoreWe’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…
Read MoreI’ve been very lax in my blogging lately due to the demands of the holiday season. Oh yes the holidays…such a challenging time of year for us in recovery. I sometimes like to refer to the holidays as the “hellidays” since we are bound by the traditions that put great social pressure on us, force us to be with family we would rather not be with and we have to do this clean and sober. And let us not forget the pleasure of watching others drink and get drunk. More than…
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