This is one time where the influx of newcomers has been exceptionally high. I'm talking people with 1 week leading up to 1 year of recovery. I just wanted to state that that 1st year was the hardest one of my life, but also the best one. You guys are the lifeblood of the program and I'm so happy to be reading about all of your recoveries.
Mood swings, difficulties with relationships, finding some sort of balance and adjusting to a life without using the crutch of booze is difficult. It's a lifelong journey we are on but the 1st year is exeptionally challenging. Stay strong all of you guys! Do not be deterred no matter what!! Even when confronted with great fears of change the best thing to do is to stay in the AA "boat" and keep rowing through it with you peers and ideally your sponsor as well.
A prayer for all our newcomers here today! All of you show such courage to even get this far. Keep it up!
-- Edited by pinkchip on Tuesday 11th of September 2012 10:31:37 AM
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Keep coming back. It works if you work it. So work it. You're worth it!
Well, not to scare the newbies, but lemme tell 'ya...........for this alcoholic it wasn't the first year that was so tough (tho I thought so at the time), it was learning that the 4th, or 7th, or 13th, or the 6 months of the 21st could be a real struggle. I am grateful every day for never getting complacent---and for also having enough of the program at all times to not have to be forever on edge ---vigilant, yes, but hyper-vigilant, no. It's all about the quality of my spiritual condition. I tend to that and all else falls into place, even during the most horrid of life-on-life's-terms circumstances.
Thanks pink chip! Exactly what I needed to hear, I'm sure many others agree. It's strange to see and hear the struggles of people in the program who have many years of sobriety ( as leeu pointed out there are always challenges) when you're still barely building the foundation of sobriety. It's always good to be reminded that the first year is especially tough for everyone. Makes you feel less crazy:)
Wow. I had no idea that I could and would be so encouraged and inspired by a message board. Well, I should have figured! This board is made up of the fellowship and I am one gratful alcoholic today. Finding this board was serendipity for me. Okay - make that synchronicity!
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'The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.' -William Faulkner
Nice post Mark! Thank you. We all need to hear about struggles in life and how others have handled them using the tools laid before us. Those that have walked the road before us can help us navigate around the pot holes and through the bumps in life. We alcoholics have this thing call "terminal uniqueness" that can infiltrate our thinking and make us feel less than. By sharing our struggles and successes we learn that we're not alone and not unique. It's very comforting for this Alcoholic.
Life is just as challenging now with multiple years of sobriety - but nothing compares to the challenges in that first year/months. I felt so raw and scared. It was like a painful molting process of shedding all my yucky fear based thinking.
Part of what keeps me sober is not just fear of relapse, but I am sort of scared that I might not have another "first year" in me.
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Keep coming back. It works if you work it. So work it. You're worth it!
