Hey Ya'll, I don't like chats for the on-line meeting (ask Runnergirl...I type really, r e a l l y slowly and I can't make enough meetings this week. I'm on the road out of town almost every day this week for work (no Noon Group). My town's only night-meeting is tonight. Wife is at campus grinding out senior-stuff while 8.5 months pregnant and our 3 kids go to bed at the exact time the meeting starts. If I'm lucky and with God's Grace I'll make two meetings between now and Saturday. I hope nobody minds, but I'd like to start a little mini-meeting-sort-of-a-thread right here and now. I guess I'm chairing it, too. Please don't feel obliged to participate as this is...I don't know what it is. I'm just an alkie doing the best with what I've got; God and other alkies.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Thy will, not mine, be done.
Hi, I'm Rob and I'm alcoholic. I'm grateful to be here by the Grace of God and not out there. Thanks everyone for gathering here together. I liked the daily Reflections Reading for today. I don't know if i completely understood all of what the author was getting at, but the line "I learn to combine initiative with humility, responsibility with thankfulness, and thus relish the joys of living my twenty-four-hour program."
When I was drinking I felt and acted to dominate my responsibilities because I saw them as unfair burdens and when i took initiative it was to gain an upper hand or solve a problem for good. That selfish and Godless perception of my life and its path created a desire to drink. "Kids are a burden - drink." "Job is a burden - drink." Other people expect too much from me - drink." "I failed to dominate my world - drink." The more I drank-at those feelings, the less capable and further from peace I became. It's a miracle that I didn't lose it all.
When I came to AA I finally admitted what I had known all along; I am an alcoholic and my alcoholic behavior was in charge of me. I knew I was powerless. I'd seen the insanity and I am grateful that I have God, AA and a 24-hour-a-day program to guide me to a life of peace.
My boss said something to me when she got back from vacation yesterday. She said that in the last two months Mgt has had to bring my fellow Sales-Troopers into The Office for closed-door-meetings regarding their performance. Old Drunk Rob would have said either "Good. I'm better than them." or "Damn. Lazy b*stards are going to cost us our bonus!" but instead, without thinking I said "What can I do to help them?", and she said "Well...nothing. You're setting a good example and that's really all you can do, but I wanted to take a moment and tell you that we (Mgt) have also talked about how well you're doing, despite all of your family pressures and being in recovery. Thank You. We love and appreciate you."
Old Drunk Rob had heard praise before and needed it like he needed Vodka Lunches. Sober Rob did NOT say the first thing that came into my head "Wasn't me...it was God. I'm just doing what He tells me to do." ('cause well...ya gotta admit, that's kinda scary for an employee to say at work ) Instead I was kind of dumb-struck and just said "Thanks. You guys make it possible with the trust you have in me." (end Hallmark moment) Then I read today's Reflections Reading for March 30th and realized that I had, in fact, combined initiative with humility and responsibility with thankfulness.
I'm Grateful for another sober day of Service, Unity and Recovery with the Grace of God.
Wow - I feel pretty good. Thanks MIP for giving me a place to do this. I am truly grateful.
I am running out the door to grab some dinner, but I will be back shortly, and I would consider it an honor and a privilege to participate in your meeting, I just wanted to let you know you are not alone, and to thank you for posting this.
Be back in a bit
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Build a man a fire and he will be warm for a night, light a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life
Before I met A.A., I was very unloving. From the time I went away to school, I paid very little attention to my mother and father. I was on my own and didn't even bother to keep in touch with them. After I got married, I was very unappreciative of my spouse. Many a time I would go out all by myself to have a good time. I paid too little attention to our children and didn't try to understand them or show them affection. My few friends were only drinking companions, not real friends. Have I gotten over loving nobody but myself?
Meditation for the Day
Be calm, be true, be quiet. Do not get emotionally upset by anything that happens around you. Feel a deep, inner security in the goodness and purpose in the universe. Be true to your highest ideals. Do not let yourself slip back into the old ways of reacting. Stick to your spiritual guns. Be calm always. Do not talk back or defend yourself too much against accusation, whether false or true. Accept abuse as well as you accept praise. Only God can judge the real you.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may not be upset by the judgment of others. I pray that I may let God be the judge of the real me.
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"You're in the right place. That's the door right there. Turn around."
I'm still here, Tom. I liked the Meditation for the Day. Is that from the 24 hour book? I need to get one of those, or at least have a short-cut to an on-line one on my laptop. I'm not buying ANYTHING for a couple of weeks. My clients seem to have had little bill-paying lapses and my paycheck is...quite sub-par, but that comes with territory.
I'm doing quite well in serenity right now. I'm going to watch a little TV and then off to bed.
Funny, try to tell any of that story outside the rooms and they'd think you were a nutjob, yeah, God did it for me and it was only possible because of the faith yall showed in me.
Any politician or actor said those lines I'd be throwing fruit
But reading it here, from you and I believe you implicitly
My old Grandsponsor pointed out what he thought was one of the most important lines in all the Big Book
in the Dr's opinion
You may rely absolutely on anything they say about themselves.
He was speaking of a group of hopeless drunks, the one characteristic we all shared in common at the end was the inability to tell the truth, yet here is a Dr saying to other Doctors about a group of drunks
You may rely absolutely on anything they say about themselves.
Thank you for a wonderful share Rob, God really does work miracles among us huh?
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Build a man a fire and he will be warm for a night, light a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life
Great post Rob. Alcoholics like me hate to pick up the thousand pound telephone but try to do it anyway. Explain your situation to some of your home group members and ask if they would consider a meeting at your house to help you stay sober.
Most of us would welcome such an opportunity to serve after all helping others saves our own butt.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I go to meetings to hear voices other than my own
Thanks so much, ya'll! Didn't make a meeting today either (on the road) but you were all with me & God when I was tempted. I pulled a Hail-Mary play (I went out there knowing I wasn't alone; God was with me) and managed to make my monthly sales goal with 90 minutes to spare and I wanted to "celebrate".
Deep breath...Serenity Prayer...switched into 'willingness mode' and immediately remembered Ago, Tom & Larry H joining me last night. (thanks to you, too SS!).
Grateful for AA, thankful to God and now another 24 hours is drawing to a close.
Tomorrow I can make my Noon HomeGroup Meeting. Looking forward to it, and a month of discussions regarding Step 4 : Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
I anticipate some 'cleaning house' in my next 30 days.
Funny thing Rob, I was an event with some folks from work last night, watching the soccer at a pub for a while. I wasn't really tempted, but I had the comfort of thinking about this place and all you guys on here...and that helped me not to me tempted at all.
Oooooh SteveP, if you really want to integrate on this small and stroppy island, you got to learn that soccer is what the rest of the world calls football in blighty, it's football!
Stick at it and we'll son get you used to cricket and rugby union and rugby league.
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It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you got. BB
and I can't make enough meetings this week. I'm on the road out of town almost every day this week for work (no Noon Group). My town's only night-meeting is tonight. Wife is at campus grinding out senior-stuff while 8.5 months pregnant and our 3 kids go to bed at the exact time the meeting starts. If I'm lucky and with God's Grace I'll make two meetings between now and Saturday.
Please don't feel obliged to participate as this is...I don't know what it is. I'm just an alkie doing the best with what I've got; God and other alkies.
) Instead I was kind of dumb-struck and just said "Thanks. You guys make it possible with the trust you have in me."
Wow - I feel pretty good. Thanks MIP for giving me a place to do this. I am truly grateful. 
in blighty, it's football!