Dry vs Sober

LinBaba · MIP Old Timer

Dry vs Sober

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

Dry ~ "Life's a bitch and then you die"

Sober ~ "Every day is a Holiday, and every meal is a feast!"

Jerry F · MIP Old Timer

I can just swear I heard your alarm clock go off!! LOL Now were getting there and
the picture just gets wider and taller and the frame is gone. Thanks for the share
Lin. It causes me to want to sing Memories...light the corners of my mind from my
journey here. smile

billyjack · Senior Member

I been wondering who thisMr Sponsorpants is. thought it was some kind of sarcastic crack on someone. thanks for the link. I checked him out yesterday. Its definitely a keeper. I looked at his 1 year as Mr Sponsorpants story, liked it a real lot.

As for dry vs sober, there been times I have been so dry, I'm surprised I didnt spontaneously combust. Gratefully I survived, because of things that were implanted in me early on, like training my feet to go to meeting no matter what my head said. I didnt do 90 in 90. I was told that 90 in 90 was treatment center crap and if I really wanted this thing, then if there was a meeting going on and I wasnt working, sleeping, or in the hospital, my ass better be in the meeting. Like Mr Sponsorpants, AA and the steps taught me to do things regardless of how I feel, go to meeting when I didnt want to go, be with people when I wanted to be alone, open my mouth about whats in me when I wanted to shut down and close up.

The times I get dry is when I become my primary purpose and
" I " damn up the flow of God being able to work though me. As soon as AA becomes my primary purpose again and I get back to giving just for the hell of it, RIGHT BACK IN THE ZONE. But truly I say, the road to surrender is a bitch.

Mike B. · MIP Old Timer

Thank you for the share and wonderful reminders. For me:

Dry- meetings only
Dry- meetings & sponsor (but didn't call him)
Dry- meetings, sponsor & started the Steps(never completing them)

Dry= suck. Relapse after relapse: Jail, Institution(x3) & near death

Sober- Meetings, Sponsor(who I call), Fellowship, Steps, HP, Help Others & Service Work. Continuously.

Sober= Happy, Joyous & Free.

LinBaba · MIP Old Timer

Now the tragedy of The "Don't drink and go to meetings" Middle of the road version of Alcoholics Anonymous where the steps are optional, is we have people who have never made an effort to face, therefore be rid of these "bedevilments" that caused us to drink sponsoring others, we have "hard drinkers" that were never even alcoholics sponsoring others, we have AA Groupies sponsoring others, we have people who come to AA from other programs because "AA's Program is stronger" trying to sponsor "real alcoholics", we have, in short, the blind leading the blind, the truth is depending on the level of our alcoholism, many of us can be "dry" for years before we go chronic, like in the early stages of pregnancy we are still pregnant (alcoholic) it's just the symptoms aren't as apparent, we are still relatively young, have jobs etc, most people get to AA before they are actually living in the gutter, we may have lost jobs, relationships, been kicked out of places but our denial makes this "someone else's fault", so we end up with "real alcoholics" that think AA doesn't work because they do everything they are told and don't find relief.

Alcoholism can't be arrested with pills or meetings in many cases, for many of us alcoholism is a spiritual malady that requires a spiritual solution, the solution found in those steps

When I gave up my "right" to be "terminally unique" I gave up my right to be an alcoholic that was different from other alcoholics, the "yeah buts" had to go, I was either an alcoholic or I wasn't, I wasn't "an alcoholics with conditions"

Anyhow, so now we have alcoholics that aren't drinking in AA that think these emotions are somehow to be remedied with a pill as opposed to be walked through and faced, this is the ISM that we face when we remove alcohol is removed, I agree with Mr Sponsorpants that the most effective remedy for ISM symptoms is alcohol, I mean it's why we became alcoholics in the first place, now contrary to popular belief AA isn't just to "quit drinking" it's to actually address these symptoms of our basic spiritual unrest WITHOUT THE NEED TO RELY ON CHEMICALS TO MANAGE OUR EMOTIONS

"We were having trouble with personal relationships,

we couldn't control our emotional natures,

we were a prey to misery and depression,

we couldn't make a living,

we had a feeling of uselessness

we were full of fear,

we were unhappy,

we couldn't seem to be of real help to other people...

I remember when I went to an oldtimer and told him I thought I suffered from "clinical depression" and "anxiety attacks" he laughed and told me I was feeling -real- emotions for the first time, emotions that normal people felt all the time but had learned to manage, but that they were all coming up at once after a lifetime of suppressing them chemically with alcohol, that if I practiced the principals of the Program, cleaned house, helped others, ate healthy, got plenty of rest, exercise, sunlight, and kept moving forward these would pass

It was a BITCH, but he was right, "this too shall pass" and it did, it was horrible, awful, and it hurt, but it passed, and now I have the experience of what the steps, eating healthy, sleep, cutting down on coffee, getting outside help etc etc could bring to my life, I don't always do it, being human I fail repeatedly, eat like crap, miss exercise and getting a good nights sleep, and I pay immediately with ISM

But now we have people who don't have experience with this, who ate a pill instead of walking through these things actaully sponsoring others.....so what do those folks have to offer?

Another pill?

"I'm sorry I don't have experience dealing with:

"We were having trouble with personal relationships, we couldn't control our emotional natures, we were a prey to misery and depression, we couldn't make a living, we had a feeling of uselessness, we were full of fear, we were unhappy, we couldn't seem to be of real help to other people...

other then eating a pill for these symptoms, but this is what YOU should do -advice not based in experience that I am unable to do myself, the ultimate alcoholic behavior, do as I say not as I do-?

That ain't AA as I learned it

I thank God I had good, old fashioned sponsorship every day, I just wish I could express myself as gently as Mr Sponsorpants, I'm onna study him and learn to use my OWN experience a little better and express my ideas as clearly as he does without being as antagonistic as I seem to come across in my writing, he says all the same things I do, but somehow he does it in such a way that it's fun to read, and somehow I .....don't, I come across like my butt is wrapped too tight in print

-- Edited by LinBaba on Monday 7th of February 2011 07:31:47 PM

attilio · Veteran Member

dear friend you think it comes out as being an antagonist,,,,,well it fits the bill for me thanks for taking the time for sharing your experience as i too have one of those old timer sponsor thank god for that not always subtle but always full of love ,,,,cheers

mental defect · Veteran Member

Bill recovered alcoholic. My man it amazes me how you are willing to put down in print what appears to be about a 2 minute comment in a real meeting. You are a student of the book which as we have talked is what I was shown .in those early days and up to date. My mind goes to the section later on in that book that my sponsor tells me to study every day.that more than most the alcoholic leads a double life.and my experience shows me that I better be practicing what in this case typing. The most humbling experience is to watch a fellowship grown about you. And its crazy how my mind will switch. This morning as I am on here . I not looking at my life or what I have to ask god to remove what needs to be removed because its easier to read somes one elses work.lol so here's the deal .apon awakening I considered the day ahead. I am also cosidering the next sentence.so true ti form I ask god to remove my self pity , and the list is to long lol. But it starts with .being unemplyed.then I asked him to remove my dishonesty .yes I do still have that . But not the dilusion that I used to havemthat is gone .thanks god good one! And I asked him to remove my self seeking.self propulsion my fears resentments my self. And the bondage that I will be in if I don't do the work. Not easy but nessasary. The most important thing today is taking that position.the going from the simple idea that will be the key stone thru the process god you are the alpha and omega. Not my thinking my vainity.not my intellegence character, my loved ones not all the money in the world .but you .I want to serve you trust you rely on you.preform your work. And most importantly to tell every one I talk to today. That you made me like this .brag to all how I am not a theif or a mooch or a lier .how you changes me from the bedelvelments that I stunk like when I came into the rooms . And how after I tried every thing else first! Desperate. Hopeless helpless.lord please help me be more of you and less of me. Now I can go help others and because I am not a heart dr. I'm gonna go help some drunks and they are gonna help me. I've walked thru that arch to freedom by his grace. How it works real time. Thank god for a 12 step program. And thank you my man!