Weekly Meeting 10/16 - 10/22 Things You Do To Not Pick Up

[admin]

What are some things that you do when you have the thought, the urge and/or the craving to pick up whether it be a drink, drug and/or cigarette?

[snugsnug]

Originally Posted by bluidkiti

What are some things that you do when you have the thought, the urge and/or the craving to pick up whether it be a drink, drug and/or cigarette?

just for me and just for today, i play the tape all the way through, i remember that last run, that run that brought me to my knees. you know, homeless, pennieless, spiritless, and all those other lesses. i try to be grateful for the life i have today, i have heard it said a grateful addict won't use. i don't want to use.

[craig]

Your topic reminds me of how my higher power has bestowed blessings upon me. As stong as my alcoholic addiction has been;the cravings and urges have miraculously vanished. When I surrendered,I received a gift of sobriety and what I do with that gift is my present to my personal God. Sometimes, I am not grateful that I am an alcoholic;however, I am grateful that there is a spiritual solution to my progressive fatal disease. Regardless of the quantity of years in recovery,I am only one drink of ethyl alcohol away from jails,institutions, and insanity. trudging the Road of Happy Destiny

[lilrain42]

I am new again in recovery i have 25 days clean today and just yesterday the obsession hit and it hit hard so i was floored to open this and see the meeting topic..God doin for me what i cant do for myself!! when this hit me i had to call my sponsor, talk about it so it didnt have power over me and i went to a meeting spoke about it there and stayed with other recovering addicts came home n i prayed n thanked God that He gave me strength to stay clean thru it all... Its a struggle for me each day but it does get easier. i had 4 1/2 yrs clean til nov of 06 and i chose not to do what i knew worked and my life fell apart God picked me up dusted me off and led back to the rooms of NA .

[admin]

lilrain. Glad to have you join us here. Congratulations on 25 days clean! No matter how much time any of us have all we really have is now - today - this 24 hours. I am so very glad to read that you are communicating with your sponsor and making meetings. This is a program of action, action, action and more action. God has been number one in my life for a long time now. I have found that with God all things are possible. Everyday I start with praying to Him. God and AA gave me a new life. I look forward to hearing more from you. Keep on taking it one day at a time, praying, communicating with your sponsor, working the steps, making your meetings and keep coming back.

[clean42day]

some things that I have gathered over time on the internet and things I did in my first year............



BEFORE YOU TAKE THAT NEXT DRINK OF ALCOHOL or THINK ABOUT USING THE NEXT DRUG:

Remember there is a whole series of choices and actions you can take between the thought to drink/drug and actually ending up at the liquor store, the local bar - or the connections house.

1) POSTPONE THE DRINK. You have undoubtedly had character defects such as procrastination, sloth, laziness, denial and fear. So, USE THEM right now in a constructive way by postponing that drink. You know you can hold off for 10 minutes, an hour, or even more. And, while you are delaying the destroyer, take the remedies listed below:

2) STAY AWAY FROM ALCOHOL. If you are in a bar or a place where liquor is available to you, go somewhere else where there is no booze for a while, at least.

3) PRAY. ask God to remove the obsession to drink from your life and heal you and fill you with his love instead. Ask God to keep alcohol from entering your body. This action can and should be done repeatedly while you are following the rest of this survival plan.

4) CALL SOBER PEOPLE. Tell them that you want to take a drink. Give your sponsor a chance to relieve the insanity of taking a drink. Or, call anybody who can help, even Central Office (818) 988-3001. In anticipation of finding a lifeguard, hopefully you have been collecting phone numbers and saving phone lists from meetings. If you are in a strange town, Alcoholics Anonymous is usually listed in the white pages of the phone book.

5) GO TO AN A.A. PLACE. Head for a meeting or an A.A. gathering place, such as a clubhouse, a sober living house, or an after-meeting hangout. Sometimes a church or a parish will help.

6) READ A.A. LITERATURE. Try the Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous) chapter 2, the 12&12, pamphlets or other material.

7) COME HERE TO Talk to people in the chat room or attend an online meeting. Vent your frustrations better than that go to a face to face meeting and ask someone to go to coffee afterwards.

8) WRITE A GRATITUDE LIST. We get so hung up on what we don’t have or want to get rid of, we fail to “count our blessings”, which we have in abundance.

9) WRITE A HARMS PREDICTION. If you drink, who is going to get hurt? Besides yourself, how about your family, your work, and those who depend upon or respect you?

10) WRITE A "REWARDS" FROM RELAPSE LIST. If you are or might be alcoholic, you have reasons to not drink alcohol. If you are gripped by the desire to drink, put the burden of proof on that drink. What is it going to do for you that is worthwhile? How long will that benefit last? How much are those desired moments of ease and comfort worth? Are you really ready to throw away your sobriety for a drink? What will you be trading for that drink - the trust of your family, your kids and your own self-trust?

11) DO AN ANONYMOUS KINDNESS. An act of Kindness to another may keep you from picking up that Drink and get you out of that self seeking frame of mind - call a newcomer with less time than you and offer them some support.

12) CALL YOUR SPONSOR A sponsor is your guide to the steps. If you dont have one , get one, It has been my experience that self sponsorship may keep you dry for a period of time but everyone I have seen try it may stay Dry but remain miserable

13)Think the drink all the way through to imagining the humbling experience of walking back into your home group and having to raise your hand for a 24 hour chip.

14) write down all your “yets” because with one drink that is where you are headed.

some things that I did - I would go on a spring cleaning mission in my home -
taking somekind of physical action actually took me out of my head long enough for the craving to pass.

I sat down and started writing out a first step from scratch (AGAIN) and (AGAIN) and as many times as it took to convince me that a drink or drug was NOT going to solve my problems.

I called everysingle person on those phone lists I gathered and talked until I couldn't talk anymore - and yeah sometime I even listened too

I called my sponsor and she gave me direction and talked me back into some sanity.

if a person is willing to take some contrary actions when the craving hits - there is at least a better than half chance that the craving will pass while those actions are being practiced.

but if a person expects to just sit there and think themselves out of a drink without any actions at all.......well I tried that little experiement and it doesn't work very well "we can think ourselves out of a drink we have to act ourselves into right thinking. Acting as if until it's not an act anymore.

that's all I've got is today too - we do this thing 24 hours at a time. Tell yourself just for today.............................

light and love

gail

[clean42day]

and of course lets not forget the other promises - the ones in reverse........I can count 3 times that I was casual about that first phase of my development and It got worse each time.

The other promises

The other promises, if we are casual with this phase of our development, we will be drunk before we are half way through, we are going to know a new imprisonment and a new misery, we will relive or past and won't be able to shut the door on it, we will comprehend the word conflict and we will know pain, no matter how far down the scale we have gone we will sink lower, that feeling of uselessness and self-pity will deepen, we will gain interest in selfish things and lose interest in our fellows, self-esteem will slip away , fear of people and of economic insecurity will multiply, we well intuitively know how to run from situations , which never us to bother us, we will suddenly realize that god would never have done to us what we are doing to ourselves.
Are these extravagant promises ? WE THINK NOT. They are being fulfilled among those of us who are still drinking, and they will be fulfilled with anyone among us who thinks they can have Just one drink, sometimes quickly sometimes slowly. These promises will always materialize if we drink for them..

[dalin]

I pray,make a gratitude list,call my sponsor,call my sponsees,work on some goals,and always stay conected.

[lilrain42]

WOW 30 days today and I am WOWED at the strength God has given me each day to get thru them without putting any mood altering substance in my body. God has given me Feanother chance at everything and He has introduced me to LIFE!!! I have this large family who truly loves me unconditionally and that love gives me strength and hope for another day clean and sober as long as i continue to do the things that are suggested to me in the rooms i can stay clean another 24 hrs: prayer, meetings, a sponsor, working with others and fellowship. Learning to apply the steps in my life has given me hope for a better tomorrow

[craig]

lilrain42, Congrats, 30 days sobriety is a milestone. Lots of work is exerted in the beginnning. You can not receive more than a day's sobriety;one day at a time. Keep coming,we need you!!!! Our heavenly father will never leave us.