I can still be surprised by our disease. Cunning Powerful and Baffling and still with our program of recovery we can come out on top with more awareness and strength to keep it beat.
I was working a client's home this afternoon and found myself very thirsty and of course the thirst triggered the need to drink however I by passed the faucet and glasses and went to the refrigerator which contained 3 cold ones, a bottle of cold water and some juice. What do you think I did?
Right!! I closed the door and walked away because I couldn't drink the beer in order to maintain my sober life. What caught me 15 feet later on was that I didn't choose water...tap or chilled and I didn't choose juice. I started to investigate the question why and it all came back at me very very clear...that is what I use to do when I was drinking alcohol...I rarely ever drank water and would not drink anything otherwise if there was beer available. How freaking sly that the habit just slid back in there as if I was back then. Now hours later I get back home...still thirsty and go get a cold one...soda, in a cold can, with a pop top and definitely not water...substitution? It's what I use to do back then and it's still available now. Gonna go drink some water just to see what that taste like. Already know what it doesn't taste like. Here's to the courage to change the things we can heh? Thanks for your support.
I can remember back to the years of sleeplessness because I would be so dehydrated from alcohol that I would stumble out of non rem sleep all night to urinate,drink water and set the cycle over and over......and then drink alcohol in the a.m. to stop shaking (p.m. to keep going) and settle in to trying to maintain my responsibilities for the day..Its funny ,now,at present, I don't drink much water as I should even though caffeine also dehydrates me...I never drank soda unless it was in a mixed drink....After getting on the road of sobriety I remember my 2nd Marathon In Boston ,it was warm that year and I had already went unconscious at the 23rd mile of my first marathon in New York from severe dehydration(there is a tendency to dehydrate after a severe case,I was hospitalized for an overnight) so I drank unto the point of hypnotromia,,my hands and feet were swollen from overdosing on water ,,weird huh...Anyway thanks for the ride, always working on that courage to change the things WE can...Peace brother,thanx for sharing..........
__________________
Selfishness-self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles.
Great share Jerry, ... I find I drink a ton of water now-a-days ... actually, the stuff ain't bad, in fact, it's pretty good stuff, LOL ... ... ...
My wife just went through a bout with 'kidney stones' ... her doc gave her some advice, drink plenty of water ... ... ... she told me that that's why I have not gotten those stones, I do drink lots of water ... ... ... of course the downside of that is I go looking for places to pee just like a dog looking for a 'fire hydrant', ALL .. THE .. TIME!!! ... LOL
__________________
'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
I get overwatered and underwatered by me sometimes - but I don't get poisoned by me anymore - so that's good. Take good care J, water, sun & love is enough - no chemicals needed today : )
__________________
Thanks for everything. Peace and Love on your journey.
You know it Zooms...that is exactly what it did and always does to me. Just went I stop paying attention and get too focused on other stuff...here it comes with a suggestion again. It is soooo arrogant also cause it never say please. lol got a diet soda in my hand now cause earlier I had some water and it didn't taste so hot to me. Hmmmm maybe I'm an alien?
Jerry,
Just thought of something....I don't much care for the taste of water. Hmmmm....not sure if it even has a taste, especially since I still smoke and everything tastes kind of bland. Anyway, I started adding some cranberry juice to mine and I drink so much more water than I used to. And, hey, it is my safe "mixed" drink! And not sure about the alien part, but your picture makes me wonder about that now since you mentioned that....LOL
Okay, Water!!! ... this is for the 'just so you know' file ... LOL
It certainly varies in taste from place to place and region to region ... that's one of the reasons the 'bottled water' business grew by leaps and bounds over the past few years ... it's at least consistent ... 2 or 3 years ago, I got tired of bringing home several cases of the stuff every week when I had clean water out of my tap ... here I was paying extra for it to be bottled and to come from a mountain stream or somethin ... Okay, I got this bright idea that my tap water had the taste and smell of 'chlorine' ... so I tried refilling my used water bottles with tap water and leave them sit for about 48 hours with the cap off ... guess what, the chlorine converts to a 'gas' and evaporates out of the water ... ding, ding, ding ... so I recap them, put them in the Frig and youza, clean tasting cold water anytime I want ... so I've been drinking water out of my Kroger Water bottles now for years ... but I have not bought any water for a long long time ... really saves on throwing away plastic too ...
Now if you want 'bad' water, just find a farm somewhere where the well they use, or used to use, has 'sulfur' in it ... it doesn't hurt you, but it tastes a lot like rotten eggs ... my Granny had a well like that and they used it, to cook with and wash clothes and stuff ... nasty stuff, it used to make me gag ... you taste that stuff and you'll never complain about the water out of your tap ... LOL
__________________
'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
I didn't drink a lot of water because there was always beer and harder stuff available. My alcohol sponsor cousin taught me and weaned me off of booze mixed with sodas and juices and other sweet stuff and got me drinking neat with a "water back" and then I weaned myself off of the water also and went straight from the bottle no ice even. That is how I was doing it when I couldn't do it anymore and the habit of "no water" stayed. Just got finished with a Diet Pepsi...More water in the house and available than Diet Pepsi and then still..... Its about compulsion...habitual compulsion.
Hi Jerry, let me share what happened with me long ago. When I first began in A.A., I was sometimes plagued by spontaneous thoughts to drink. They would sneak their way into my mind at the strangest moments and seemingly come in strong waves. At first, I panicked, of course. But, then it occurred to me that I could pray. When I did that, the thoughts would get weaker and weaker until they were gone. When they came back again, I did the same thing.....and, they would go away again. Those were the days when I was just mainly going to meetings and praying to stay sober. But, I finally got the message that this method will only work temporarily. I would need to take action. So, I finally got started on the action Steps of the Program. Once I got through Steps 6 and 7, I found that the thoughts to drink were very infrequent. By the time I had worked Step 9 and experienced a spiritual awakening, they totally disappeared forever. I may not be having any thoughts to drink today, but the fact that I'm an alcoholic remains. Because our disease never stops, we must never stop working the Steps. Blessings to you, Mike D.
