Good afternoon all. 

For me, I listened to the music that's been helping me this morning.  I gave a plea to the universe to help me through my tenth day of sobriety.  Then I decided to make myself useful and ran some errands for my parents.  Now I'm going to fill up my afternoon and evening with getting some laundry done, a little more organizing and most importantly, taking my dogs out for a good exercise session. :)  I've also found little "mind teaser" games to be helpful when I start to get really antsy.  Either on my phone or a little Nintendo ds I found from years ago. The game Scribblenauts has proven to be a delightful distraction.  It sounds silly, but whatever works, right?

Hope all are well!

I'm utilizing the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. That is my 'program of recovery'.

That is what has always worked for me, for many years now, and it is really the ONLY thing that has worked to allow me to live a sober life, contented and grateful for my sobriety, on a daily basis. I tried lots of other ideas, and also tried staying sober based on no particular idea at all, which all ended up with me either drinking again or feeling miserable about being sober, before I got a good AA sponsor who had experience with the steps and took the 12 steps myself and began basing my daily life on the principles of the steps. That changed everything.

I'm also going to an AA meeting, where I benefit from the 'fellowship of AA'. The fellowship with other sober alcoholics is very important for me, but the fellowship alone is not my 'program of recovery'. My 'program of recovery' is the 12 steps.

I start my day with a little prayer asking God what He wants me to do today. Through the day I will ask for inspiration and direction when I run into any problems. If a resentment begins to pop up I ask that He please remove these "stupid thoughts at once" anf He usually does.

My hope today is to get to Ubud, where there are some meetings, and find an alcoholic to work with, if that is God's will. Who knows? He might have other plans for me. But if I get there it will be my first meeting since April 27.

Last night I remembered to thank Him for the great life he has given me and the many blessings that have come my way, and to review the day and my behaviour, to see if there are any amends I need to make.

During today, if I make a mistake and upset someone, I will admit my wrong immediately and make amends if needed. Experience has shown this practice to be a real life saver.

For me the daily routine is about staying spritually fit. I don't think about drinking or not drinking. He removed that problem. My job now is to try and use His gift in the way I think He would have me. By doing that, the drink problem seems to stay away.

When I was new I had a spell where I was staying sober by sheer determination, very much hanging on one day at a time, sometimes one hour at a time. But that was a temporary state of affairs. I never could sustain sobriety for any length of time in that way. When I began living the program I realised it was possible to stay sober "for good and all" by living one day at a time as suggested in step eleven.