To The Newcomer

[MajestyJo]

What topics would you like discussed?

What do you need for your recovery?

Do you have any questions you would like answered?

If you don't know how or don't wish to post, send me a private message.AC

You are the most important people at this site.

To the new members here, please feel free to post anywhere and ask as many questions as you like. There is no such think as a stupid question. If you need direction in any way please ask. Click on my name or that of another member you identify with and send a private message if you need instructions to post.

We are here for you. You are the reason we are here and keep coming back.


We share because we care, please keep coming so you don't have to come back.

[MajestyJo]

We do this one day at a time. Asking for help is the 1st Step. Feel free to private message me.

I was living at the YWCA and talked to my social worker there and through her counselling got into a treatment center. I detox by myself in my room at the Y, I didn't know that there was such a thing as a detox center and that I didn't have to do it alone. It was those five days of hell that I remember when I think of picking up. I never wanted to go through them again. When I got into treatment, I found 12 Step programs and have been going to them since then. That was in August 1991 and I haven't found it necessary to pick up since. I had tried my way for eight years before that, I could stop, but couldn't stay stopped.

Just keep coming, reading the posts here. There is a lot of good material posted here. If you feel like sharing, press reply and share your thoughts and questions to that post. If you don't find anything to answer your questions, click on NEW THREAD and a new window will open up and you can share your thoughts there. Each has a separate section, but it doesn't matter where it is, it is more important that you share what is important for your recovery.

I am an addict, an alcoholic, an adult child of an alcoholic, and my drug of choice was always 'more' and it doesn't matter where I post I qualify. I have an eating disorder, my son is a self-admitted addict, and I have been known to get carried away with Nevada Tickets.

For many years, I blamed my husband and my father for my drinking. My husband I kicked out and my father passed away as a result of his diesease, and I was alone and I was still drinking and taking prescription medication (dried up alcohol). When I hit my bottom, I was alone. No one was around for me to blame and I had to look at myself. I use to say, "If you ccan't beat 'em join 'em." It got so bad I had to be drunk to be around my husband. I couldn't accept life, and drinking was my coping tool. It stopped working for me and what had been my friend became my enemy. My disease increased, I kept having to have more and my pill addiction increased. I finally got to a stage where I was sick and tired of being tired and sick. I surrendered and reach out and asked for help. I was 49. Hopefully you won't have to continue drinking as long as I did. For me to drink is to die, I chose to live.

Continued...

[MajestyJo]

One of the reasons I got involved in service was to give back what was given to me. They said "If I didn't give my recovery away, I wouldn't keep it." This is a selfish program and your recovery comes first. I think it is about balance. It is important to have a life outside of the rooms. That is one of the reasons for recovery, to get a life and start living it and being a part of the word around us.

You can not help those who are willing to work a program. I have let go of several sponsee by saying, "If you aren't willing to work an AA program, I can't be an AA sponsor." I couldn't do it for them, all I could do was carry the message, and what they did with it was none of my business. In Al-Anon, they call it detachment. We don't give advice, tell them what to do, just share our experience, strength and hope.

A lot of the whiners made me grateful that wasn't were I was at. If you aren't enjoying recovery, what are you doing wrong? Have you done the Steps? Do you have a sponsor?

I found that my way wasn't always the right way for someone else, it was about what was good for me and my recovery. I took a little from one, none from another, and a lot from others. I was very involved for the first ten years of my life and then due to health issues, I couldn't go out there and do and the internet has been a way for me to do service in today.

I always say my drug of choice was alcohol, men, pills, men, work, men, food, men, computers, men....

I had to learn to identify, not compare. It isn't about other people, it is about me and what I need to recovery from my dis-ease, which is four-fold, mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical.

Step Two says doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results. It says I can be restore me to insanity. Didn't think I was insane. But looking outside of myself to make me feel better, doesn't not make a lot of sense.. My drug of choice was more! This is an inward journey, I travelled the other one for too many years.

It is the God of your understanding. Not how you were told to believe, not what you thought you believed, but going on a personal journey to find your God and build a relationship that is yours, and install a direct line, and leave the line open. My God is always there, it is up to me to acknowledge Him/Her. It doesn't matter what you call your God, as long as you recognize His/Her voice when your prayer is answered. I was told we have a masculine and feminine side and we were made in God's Image. Who heard tell of a man asking for direction. Most men aren't comfortable with showing their emotions and being intimate, I feel it is the feminine side that gives us the love and understanding. The strength, courage, and support comes from the masculine. Whether it is Good Orderly Direction or Divine Orderly Good, Jesus, Buddha, Higher Self, Inner Self, Creator, Supreme Being, The Source, to my way of thinking, my God is ONE! One size fits all.

Don't run away when you hear God mentioned. Just remember that God can't be you. You can't be God to someone or something else, you don't have the power. If you think you are in control, it is an illusion. If it has to be controlled, it is already out of control.

Hope you will continue to come and share with us each day.