Being Sober is Great

[RichC]

I wanted to bring this subject up.
A bit of ranting and a bit of hope for those among us.

I come to these sites and AA meetings and see ll the struggles and depression and hear the stories of what a horrible life you had.
Then I hear how AA has been a life saver, and how your life has turned around.
But not what it is like Being Sober.
Sure a little here and there about how grateful everyone is, but not the details of being free from it all.
It is a bit depressing to read and listen too.
Sort of like going to Church and hearing everyone speak how God is their Savior.. bla bla bla.

Well I wanted to change that up a bit and give someone new here a look into my perception of "Being Sober".

First of all I no longer need to worry about my actions from the night before.
I know what I said and did.
That's a great feeling.
And a huge weight off my shoulders wondering what others are saying to each-other but not to your face about your actions.
I know what I did.

Relationships with others are not based on who can feed my habits, or party with and be the fool and be forgiven because I have their secrets too.
Mutual secret keeping is a cornerstone in the drunk and drugged relationships.
No More of that nonsense.

Never wondering or worrying if I will have enough booze to get through the day or weekend without going to the store for more.
No more planning my free time around feeding the habit.
No more watching that level in the bottle and predicting when it will be empty.
I can think about what I am doing, or how I am doing it.
Not how drunk can I get and still do this right.
And not having to inspect it the next day to see where I got too drunk.
Then re-doing my drunken mistakes.

Children are fun too.
I can enjoy their company and not be concerned about when I am getting too drunk to be around them with looking like the Otis of the house.

When I am happy I am actually Happy.
Not induced fake happiness.
Big difference between the two.
Never realized it until I was sober.
When I laugh it is real laughter.

Being sober is Great!!

Being Sober is FREEDOM!!!!


There is a little to look forward too.

How about some experiences from the rest of you.

[sunlight]

Yay! Love living sober!

Being sober is sunlight, inside and out.

Dancing in the rain today, just because I love life.

Dancing at a club & not falling over drunk!

Being able to really relate to others and not just skim the surface while I figure out how to manipulate them.

Being able to cry, cry, cry and laugh, laugh, laugh because this is what I'm feeling at the time and it's OK!

Freely giving what I've been given, and feeling the highest high as the message is received!

Loving from the heart, playing cards with my grandkids, sweet romance without regrets or resentments, planting a garden and marveling at the beauty & variety of nature, enjoying the birds singing in the morning instead of wishing they'd shut up! Seeing others recover from alcoholism, being of service and not having to let anyone know, actually not needing it to be about me,being honest & fully alive and aware of my Creator in everything and everyone.

Wow! Ad infinitum here...Thank you for the topic. Long overdue.

Can I double dip later?

[ravenswood1000]

Sober?

You can get in the car whenever you want and go.
You wake up in the morning without throwing up first thing (in the kitchen sink)
You save a heck of a lot of money.
People actually want to talk to you when you telephone.
The weekends seem like 2 days, not two hours.
Those verbal fights happen almost never.
When you accidently pee yourself, it's not ok.
A night's sleep is usually restful.
Drinking induced maladies can go away (I used to itch)
Even the simplest goals seem to get done.
You can plan a head and say 'yes' to a dinner engagement and actually make it.
You can comprehend that book you are reading.
You arn't taking out mountains of recycleables all the time.
The start of the work week means you are at work, not in bed or the bar.

Just some of the things about being sober and living in recovery

[Dallas]

That's a great list! I understand!!!
This sobriety deal ain't so bad... Matter of fact -- it's been pretty good for me! I haven't even had a minor -- let alone a major complication with law enforcement, since I've been sober!

I sure did pull out some hand-fulls of hair in the beginning though. Geeezzz I hope I never have to screw up and experience that again. I couldn't survive it! As long as I keep doing what I'm doing to keep comfortable and at peace while sober -- I think I'll be okay.

Sober life and sober living has been pretty good for me.

Thanks for sharing Ravenswood! It helps me to read messages like yours and I hope I read many more of them. I appreciate you.

Dallas

[RichC]

I think the biggest benefit is being able to enjoy my life as it comes.
I don't need to be inebriated to have fun.
Something I really did need to re-learn.
Remember how much fun it was to be a child and playing with your friends in the neighborhood?
Sort of like that in that I can enjoy what I'm doing at the moment.
Where before for me to enjoy anything I had to have a buzz on.
Otherwise it was just going through the motions.
It really was an eye opener to discover that again and realize how couldn't without that buzz.

[Phonelady]

Not being followed by that constant state of pain.
Enjoying a day
Loving the people around me. Not the co-dependent kind of love that alcoholism promotes, but real caring.
Knowing I will get through the ruff stuff -without having to use liquid courage.
Having hope.
And having that great hole in my heart filled by a Higher Power.

Smiles!
Carla

[Toast]

Great topic!

I've recently been helping out at an arts festival in a town near me. Most evenings find me standing in the main street acosting strangers whilst giving out leaflets for the various shows. There's not a night goes by when i dont meet a sober member of AA out on the town enjoying a sober life to the full. We stop, we chat and we laugh at how far we've come and how things have changed. None of us has AA stamped on our foreheads, we're just anonymous members of the public going about our business enjoying life to the full!

Does my heart no end of good meeting my fellow AA's as we all trudge the road to happy destiny!

It also reminds me that normal folks have always enjoyed this kind of life, so why shouldn't we?

[Then, and only then]

Good for all of you. Too bad for me and a few.

I am that boy whistling in the dark. I am that alcoholic normal in every way except... I am that guy in the book, not a cloud in the sky, suddenly the thought occur... My mind constantly tells me, it would be nice if I can have...

Obsession is not to take a drink, but to control and enjoy. Compulsion is long gone. I no longer desire. But the thought lingers, it waits patiently. I know it is there. Lurking. As I enjoy these great blessings of the program, it match up my growth in by inch. After all, it is I.

It just need to slide one drink my way at the right time. I get used to things. I was used to the pain and misery while I was drinking. It seemed only normal. I get used to the sobriety as well. It seems stale time to time. Is there more?

The long form tradition 12 foretell my life and the lives of most of us. I must pray and seek genuine humility. The great blessings of AA will spoil me. I will think I know, I will think I am the path, I will think I have the faith, I will be rigid, I will step on others with self righteous anger, then I will separate myself from the herd. Once again, I will find myself at that jumping off point, wet or dry.

Isn't that what happens to most of us between 15 to 20 years? You see, I already think I know.

Sorry, friends. I had to do it. (-:

[Dallas]

My pain & misery didn't come from drinking. My pain & misery was there when I was sober. That's why I drank. Drinking was my solution for the pain & misery I suffered while sober.

I'm 25 yrs sober now. No more pain & misery while sober. The reason there is no more pain & misery while sober is NOT because I've been sober for a long time. It's BECAUSE of the work that I did on myself -- long ago, after I got sober -- so that I COULD stay sober and enjoy my sobriety.

When I first came to AA and I heard them say to me "you never HAVE to drink again"... I didn't believe them. And, I didn't believe that God could or would relieve my obsession to drink, nor would he or could he restore me to sanity.

My sponsor said to me "I don't care what you believe or what you disbelieve. What you believe is not important right now. Are you willing to take these actions REGARDLESS of what you believe?" And, I said "Yes."

I was shocked, amazed, dazed, and surprised -- that the actions worked.

I'm no longer shocked, amazed, dazed or surprised that the actions worked -- because I have experienced it for myself.

I don't even remember the last time that I thought about drinking. You see, I don't think about drinking. I think about staying sober.

How do you NOT do something? No one can tell us how to NOT do something -- because it's impossible to NOT do something!

They can show us what TO DO and how TO DO IT. It is within each of us -- the POWER to DO something.

While I watch people struggle to NOT DO something -- I am amazed at their stubborn-ness... to consider something different than what they are doing.

The alcoholic is narcissistic, defiant, and grandiose. They believe they are right, that they are all powerful and that they can control ANYTHING. So, they go along living their lives as dummies... unwilling to take direction from someone else... as they continue to feed themselves THEIR OWN SOLUTIONS -- which we ALL know... (except for them) that their ideas -- is what keeps them from achieving and MAINTAINING their sobriety.

AA is simply a way that an alcoholic can withdraw from alcohol -- and engage in comfortable, sober living. It's not magic. It's a tool. And, it has to be used like a tool.

You can have the best shovel in the world -- but it you don't use it -- it simply sits in a corner collecting dust and rust.

[Toast]

Then and only then wrote:

'My mind constantly tells me, it would be nice if I can have...'

If its your mind and you own it then you tell it what would be nice to have in your life, not the other way around.