I don't need to know how long you people have been sober to learn from and share with you. I've met AA folks with 30-40 years clean time who were complete assholes and were unhappy. I've also met people with 6 moths or a year who absolutely glow and radiate the beauty of the fellowship and the program. Maybe I'm being silly, I know milestones are important, but for me I just don't care. In fact do you know what taking chips used to do to me? It'd make me think "Holyshit I haven't had a drink in 30 days! I need a drink!"...I'm like the person trying to lose weight, I do better when I don't obsess over the scale or in this case the calendar. Is that so wrong? If that's a bad way to be tell me because I'm trying to do things properly these days.
I agree with Tasha. The guy in the rooms with 2 days needs to see that 30 day chip of yours. :)
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I think there's an invisible principle of living...if we believe we're guided through every step of our lives, we are. Its a lovely sight, watching it work.
OK there's so much emphasis on time in sobriety it's like rank in the military, although it's not SUPPOSED to be.
I got sober through the Sinclair method. It wasn't like I was drinking one day and sober the next. It was more like a gradual extinction of the drink habit so I don't know when my last drink was, and as far as my last DRUNK...it gradually diminished. So the last \months of drinking I did not drink to the point of intoxication and it got less and less frequent until it fell away to nothing.
So I don't have a sobriety date. It's undefined. Like dividing by zero.
I see your point very well ... but you know?, it's kind of different for each of us ...
For me, I was/am a lot like you ... I had relapsed so many times, the chips piled up in my drawer at home and after a while, they had very little meaning for me ... on the other hand, when I 1st came to AA, I would sit back in amazement at someone picking up a 30-day or 90-day or any other time chip ... the thought would go through my mind, if that no good rascal could pull it off, I could too ... LOL
So, my thought, is if it possibly helps inspire the new-comer to get more serious about sobriety, why not do the chips ... and so now I tend to keep the 'meaning' of the chip system for me, to myself ... overall, I do believe it has its place ...
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'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
Sobriety date for a 'trexer could be when he or she has achieved the safety limits for alcohol set by the World Helath Organization: Men-- We're living in a different era for the alcoholic where total 100% abstinence is no longer the only solution, so it's time to adapt just what the definition of the word sobriety IS.
^ What are you? A shill for the pharmaceutical co? You've got a thread for that stuff.
Anyway, I keep a count of my days. It doesn't mean that much except that that's how many days I've had of freedom from the bottle.
But, look, the law of averages says that those with longer sobriety will probably have a bit more know how and would have heard more things that they've meditated on. That's not foolproof. I'm sure I'll be just as think in ten years as I am now, but most people won't. But you can learn from anyone, even if it's just learning how not to do things.
Like anything in this you take what you can use and discard what you can't.
^ What are you? A shill for the pharmaceutical co? You've got a thread for that stuff.
Anyway, I keep a count of my days. It doesn't mean that much except that that's how many days I've had of freedom from the bottle.
But, look, the law of averages says that those with longer sobriety will probably have a bit more know how and would have heard more things that they've meditated on. That's not foolproof. I'm sure I'll be just as think in ten years as I am now, but most people won't. But you can learn from anyone, even if it's just learning how not to do things.
Like anything in this you take what you can use and discard what you can't.
Agree Frodo
Every once in a while the Sinclair folks show up. If they are following the AA program, fine. Welcome. If they are here to disparage our program, that is when I pull the bat-ass kicker off the bat-utilitility belt.
-- Edited by turninggrey on Sunday 6th of January 2013 07:21:29 PM
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"You're in the right place. That's the door right there. Turn around."
Sobriety date for a 'trexer could be when he or she has achieved the safety limits for alcohol set by the World Helath Organization: Men-- We're living in a different era for the alcoholic where total 100% abstinence is no longer the only solution, so it's time to adapt just what the definition of the word sobriety IS.
A.O.B. why did you join an AA message board if all you wish to post about is drug induced independency <-- oxymoron? There has been quite a bit of tolerance to your seemingly trollish remarks and your point was taken. Why don't you find or start your own "Trexer" message board, so that you folks can thump your chests in unison? I sent you a private message to this affect, which you ignored. If you wish to participate on this board for the purpose it was intended then demonstrate that.
-- Edited by StPeteDean on Monday 7th of January 2013 07:52:37 AM
LOL Frodo! Yes my spidey sense tells me that our sinclair "friend" may be one of NAMI, or those new legal drug PUSHERS, you know, the ones in the white coats!
To " I dont wanna talk about AA b-day" ,when I was new, we absolutely worshipped the longtimers! I STILL DO!
When I was new, I bragged that it was "quality" sobriety that mattered, not "quantity" of sobriety (that's what all new people say lol).
GIMMEE QUANTITY PLEASE! Does that "quality" stuff mean that, if my drug-free sobriety does not meet my standards of "quality" I'm gonna take a drink or drug?
My hope prayer and dream, is that I GET to die of something OTHER than my alcoholism/addiction (a true miracle for an alcoholic)! I pray I'll not have that insidious first drink/drug again!
My sobriety (re-)birth day is 7-23-1984! This is the most important day in my life! The day that my Angel, lifted me up outta the puke and blood, and gave me a chance to survive this terrible disease!
Google says that 2,500,000 of us drunks die annually of alcoholism.......if that is True....70,000,000 of my sister and brother drunks are dead, since that day I was given the gift of sobriety/life.
I have 10,394 days of continuous drug free sobriety.........TODAY! (Thats 28 years lol)
I can share with you, how to STAY sober through delight, joy, success, dreams come true,love, friendships, happiness AND through death, sadness, despair, loss,disability, failure and confusion!
We love and admire our long-timers because they are our Teachers, Nurturers,Truth Tellers, Correctors, Guides, and what I have not walked through sober yet...THEY have, and can teach me how! Long time sobriety is NO FLUKE! Keep coming back and find that out for yourself! PLEASE!
A.A. is filled with Assholes and Angels......and we ALL take turns being both lol
Your seat with us, I imagine, cost alot! Mine cost me : jobs, relationships, a small fortune, cars, children, my dignity.... A.A. is free, but the price of entry is steep! If you are ready to join us, no number of triple A's (A.A.A.s -thats A.A. Assholes lol) can EVER chase you away!
Keep Coming Back! And if you cannot, ask that Angel on your shoulder, who got you here in the first place, to HELP you keep coming back!
Members are always asking for your sobriety date. Far as I'm concerned I'll tell them when I tell them. It's really none of their concern.. It's just another dick-measuring exercise for some members and nothing more. What I often do is ask them in return "What time did you get up this am, beause if you got up before me, you have more sobriety that I do"
I sent you a private message to this affect, which you ignored. If you wish to participate on this board for the purpose it was intended then demonstrate that. 