Share Tips About Dealing with the Holidays

ANONYMOUS ALCOHOLIC ^ | 12/16/04

[SweetCaroline]

TC could you post the 12 steps? I would really like to know what they are and don't know how to find them.

[Syberyenta]

I worried about Holiday parties when I got sober.

When I first got sober, I practiced saying
"I'll have a coke, please"
"plain coke"
"Coke for me".

It worked. More than ten years now.

I thought people would care. THey didn't.

"What the H@@@ Happened to You?" One friend said.
"You have skin-tone now!!!"

That was it.



Also, Ginger Ale with a splash of Orange Juice is really tasty!!

[Lazamataz]

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol--that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

[Syberyenta]

http://www.recovery.org/aa/bigbook/ww/

Check this out. The Steps are there, and much more.

[Hildy]

That is why Christian programs work where others fail.Alcoholics Anonymous, the most successful program is founded on the principles of helping others and it is not a Christian program.

[SweetCaroline]

She is a wonderful friend, caring, thoughful and funny. We have such a great time together, but out husband's don't get along. Which is another problem with our relationship. He is the loud mouth drunk that knows everything, I think we all have met some one like this.

[Lazamataz]

Alcoholics Anonymous, the most successful program is founded on the principles of helping others and it is not a Christian program.

Correct. It is a spiritual, not religious program.

[Lazamataz]

He is the loud mouth drunk that knows everything, I think we all have met some one like this.

I haven't.

I was too busy being the loud mouth drunk that knew everything.

[AppyPappy]

It works like a charm. Oddly, they usually thank us the next morning. That last drink is the one that causes the hangover.

I went on a bachelor party weekend a month or so ago. One of the single guys stayed up until 2AM drinking. I got up to cook breakfast at 6:30AM and he staggered in at 8AM asking if everyone hurt as bad as him. Nothing but stares and a unison "Uhh...no".

[Hildy]

LOL! You and I would have gotten along just fine!!!!

[TexasCowboy]

Well, Laz beat me to it.

Thanks, Laz!

[Hildy]

But some of us exclaimed, "What an order, I can't go through with it!!!!"

[SweetCaroline]

We always kept Syrup of Ipecac around the frat house for bad drunks. One shot and aim them out the door.

Ohhhhh AppyPappy your so funny. I laughed so hard at this one!!!!!!!!!!!!

....and I decided I didn't want to eat the rest of my breakfast after that vision you placed in my head!!!!!!!!

[TexasCowboy]

"I was too busy being the loud mouth drunk that knew everything."

In trying to pick up babes in bars, I've been everything from a brain surgeon to a helicopter pilot, whatever fit the occasion.

[AppyPappy]

is the loud mouth drunk that knows everything,

Some people's IQ's double when they drink. Even better are those who call people on the phone. I had one friend who would call me at 2AM screaming "COME ON OVER. WE'RE DRINKIN". I would always respond "Ok, I'm coming right over". That ended the call and I'd go back to sleep. I never argue with a drunk.

[Hildy]

in 1991, about the time of the first Gulf War, I had this conversation with an old friend. He told me that he and a mutual friend were watching the war unfold and when the news that Israel was being attacked by scud missles was discussed, the mutual friend exclaimed, "Hey, speaking of Jews getting bombed, anyone hear from Hildy lately!!!!" (True story).

[Lazamataz]

But some of us exclaimed, "What an order, I can't go through with it!!!!"

Don't be discouraged. No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints. The point is, that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.

[SweetCaroline]

opppsssI didn't mean to offend you, but that was funny.

[Lazamataz]

opppsssI didn't mean to offend you, but that was funny.

(wide, accepting grin)

[johnb838]

So what are you saying? Are you saying I have a problem? Because I don't think I have a problem. How would you know? You don't know me, you don't know the pain I go through. If I drinks a bit, well thats understandab....

Just Kidding! Three Years, Nine Months Sober and Fat (: but reasonably happy. Seasons Greetings.