Here is a quiz I found.
I scored a 65% on this quiz. By answering all of the questions honestly, even though I have been clean and sober for over 3 years, I STILL SCORED A 65!!
Alcohol Abuse Screening Quiz
Here's my result:
Your score is 65%. According to the Office of Health Care Programs, Johns Hopkins University Hospital, developers of this screening quiz, if you answered as few as 3 of these questions with a Yes it is a definite sign that your drinking patterns are harmful and considered alcohol dependent or alcoholic. Since you answered more than half of these questions Yes you should definitely seek an evaluation by a healthcare professional as soon as possible.
This 65% score still surprises me! I answered 'NO' to a number of questions that asked if I drink a certain amount or number of drinks presently...and even with those questions as 'no,' I also had to answer some questions about what I think about alcohol. Those questions still put my score in a range where I should be evaluated for alcohol abuse.
WOW!
So it's a REALLY GOOD THING that I don't drink anymore. Even WITHOUT drinking, I cannot escape that I THINK about alcohol in unhealthy ways! I think that if I were to ever relapse - I might score a perfect 100% on this quiz!
THAT would be one perfect grade that might kill me.
:(
Showing posts with label drink. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drink. Show all posts
Friday, June 15, 2007
Friday, May 25, 2007
You May Have a Drinking Problem...
(Joking - but some of this is NOT funny - some of it is how an active alcoholic or addict actually thinks, on occasion! Or, rather - some of these are the jokes that alcoholics will go ahead and brush off - just so they can continue to see drinking as a funny endeavor...I hope it doesn't offend - hope some of it makes you LAUGH)
YOU MAY HAVE A DRINKING PROBLEM IF:
* You lose arguments with inanimate objects.
* Your doctor finds traces of blood in your alcohol stream.
* The parking lot seems to have moved while you were in the
bar.
* Every person you see has an exact twin.
* Vampires catch a buzz after attacking you.
* Your idea of cutting back is less salt.
* That damned pink elephant followed me home again.
* You have a reserved parking space at the liquor store.
* The glass keeps missing your mouth.
* Every night you're beginning to find your cat more and more
attractive.
* You have to hold onto the lawn to keep from falling off the
earth.
* Hey, 5 beers has just as many calories as a burger, screw
dinner!
* At A.A, meetings you begin: "Hi, my name is... uh..."
* Hi ocifer. I'm not under the affluence of incohol.
* Waking up with a traffic cone between your legs.
* You can't remember what your family looks like or if you
have a family.
* You loose your car at least once a week.
* You think alcohol abuse is spilling your drink.
* On the way to the bathroom, someone's always stepping on
your hands.
* You don't have any friends, just drinking buddies.
* You quit calling in sick. You let your wife do it.
* You pee in the kitchen sink while mixing another drink.
* Selling beer cans seems like a weekly bonus.
* You celebrate getting out of jail by getting drunk.
* You decorate your Christmas tree with chains of beer tabs.
* No visit to a friend's house is complete until you've puked
on their carpet.
* Your job is interfering with your drinking.
* The toilet seat keeps hitting you in the back of the head.
* You think the sun shining in your face is God's flashlight
telling you to get up and go home.
* You throw-up on purpose so you can hold more.
* It's normal to drive with one eye shut so not to see double.
* You order a keg of beer for your kid's first birthday
party.
* You measure distance by how many beers it takes to get there.
* Your main prayer is "God, get me out of this and I'll never
drink again".
* You think your only drinking problem is when you're out.
Sadly, a few years ago, a couple of these statements were more true than funny for me, personally.
"My job interfered with my drinking" and "You don't have any friends, just drinking buddies," for instance.
I'm glad I don't have to worry 'bout that last one on the list anymore!
*whew*
YOU MAY HAVE A DRINKING PROBLEM IF:
* You lose arguments with inanimate objects.
* Your doctor finds traces of blood in your alcohol stream.
* The parking lot seems to have moved while you were in the
bar.
* Every person you see has an exact twin.
* Vampires catch a buzz after attacking you.
* Your idea of cutting back is less salt.
* That damned pink elephant followed me home again.
* You have a reserved parking space at the liquor store.
* The glass keeps missing your mouth.
* Every night you're beginning to find your cat more and more
attractive.
* You have to hold onto the lawn to keep from falling off the
earth.
* Hey, 5 beers has just as many calories as a burger, screw
dinner!
* At A.A, meetings you begin: "Hi, my name is... uh..."
* Hi ocifer. I'm not under the affluence of incohol.
* Waking up with a traffic cone between your legs.
* You can't remember what your family looks like or if you
have a family.
* You loose your car at least once a week.
* You think alcohol abuse is spilling your drink.
* On the way to the bathroom, someone's always stepping on
your hands.
* You don't have any friends, just drinking buddies.
* You quit calling in sick. You let your wife do it.
* You pee in the kitchen sink while mixing another drink.
* Selling beer cans seems like a weekly bonus.
* You celebrate getting out of jail by getting drunk.
* You decorate your Christmas tree with chains of beer tabs.
* No visit to a friend's house is complete until you've puked
on their carpet.
* Your job is interfering with your drinking.
* The toilet seat keeps hitting you in the back of the head.
* You think the sun shining in your face is God's flashlight
telling you to get up and go home.
* You throw-up on purpose so you can hold more.
* It's normal to drive with one eye shut so not to see double.
* You order a keg of beer for your kid's first birthday
party.
* You measure distance by how many beers it takes to get there.
* Your main prayer is "God, get me out of this and I'll never
drink again".
* You think your only drinking problem is when you're out.
Sadly, a few years ago, a couple of these statements were more true than funny for me, personally.
"My job interfered with my drinking" and "You don't have any friends, just drinking buddies," for instance.
I'm glad I don't have to worry 'bout that last one on the list anymore!
*whew*
The Wrong Way To Consider 12-Steps
Just Joking Here
LOL
Read!
Rarely have we seen a person fail who has completed their aftercare.
Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not learn our
numerous slogans, and go to 90 meetings in 90 days. They are usually
men and women who are constitutionally incapable of forming meaningful
relationships in treatment centers. There are such unfortunates.
They are not at fault; their therapist told them so. They are naturally
incapable of grasping and developing a relationship with a vulnerable
newcomer. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too,
who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them
do recover if they have the capacity to form meaningful relationships.
Our stories disclose in a general way: how we were harmed, what happened
to those who harmed us, and how we got even in the end. If you have
decided you want what we have, you obviously haven't been paying attention
to our stories. If you're still determined to get what we have and are
willing to exert minimal effort to get it--then you are ready for a
temporary sponsor.
At their first suggestion we balked. We were sure that our sponsors
didn't understand. We were determined to find a sponsor who would see
things our way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command,
we beg of you to take it easy on these old fools. Some of us have tried
to re-educate our sponsors but the result was nil until we let go of
them absolutely.
Remember that we are dealing with your ego, cunning, baffling, powerful!
Without constant praise and reassurance it is too much for us. But there
is one, and possibly more, who has all power, that one is your significant
other. May you find them now!
Half measures availed us nothing. It was time to move in together. Having
abandoned common sense completely, we asked his or her protection and care
with great expectations.
Here are the steps we took, which interpreted properly, offer a spiritual
path to staying sober and having your own way in a meaningful relationship:
1. Don't drink or get loaded. Try to ignore the fact that you've never
actually been able to do this.
2. Came to believe that the right relationship could restore us to sanity.
3 Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of our
significant other, assuming they had what we needed.
4 Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of our significant other.
5 Complained to God, to ourselves, and to our temporary sponsors about
the exact nature of their wrongs.
6 Were entirely ready to have God remove these defective characters.
7 Humbly demanded that He find us the right significant other.
8 Made a list of everyone we found attractive and became willing to have
significant relationships with them all.
9. Made direct amends to people we believed might still be willing to
help us restore our net worth, except when their significant other was
attractive to us.
10. Continued to find fault with others and when they were wrong promptly
pointed it out.
11. Sought through prayer and manipulation to improve the behavior of our
significant other, praying for knowledge of all their hot buttons and
just the right time to push them.
12. Having gotten our own way as the result of these steps, we tried to
convince our significant other that this was really for their own good,
and that their future happiness lay in doing my will.
Many of us exclaimed, "What an order! They won't go through with it."
Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to do this with just
one partner. Fortunately the treatment centers, meetings, and social
activities are full of prospects who are not saints. The point is, that
we are willing to keep replacing partners until we find one or more who
will do it our way.
The principles we have set down have proven themselves in coffee shops,
clubhouses, and meetings across the land. We claim personal development
rather than personal perfection.
Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the wives, and our
personal difficulties before and after make clear three pertinent ideas:
(a) That we were alcoholic and it wasn't our fault.
(b) That our current therapist and significant other could not relieve
our alcoholism.
(c) That the right partner could and would if they were sought.
:)
LOL
Read!
Rarely have we seen a person fail who has completed their aftercare.
Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not learn our
numerous slogans, and go to 90 meetings in 90 days. They are usually
men and women who are constitutionally incapable of forming meaningful
relationships in treatment centers. There are such unfortunates.
They are not at fault; their therapist told them so. They are naturally
incapable of grasping and developing a relationship with a vulnerable
newcomer. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too,
who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them
do recover if they have the capacity to form meaningful relationships.
Our stories disclose in a general way: how we were harmed, what happened
to those who harmed us, and how we got even in the end. If you have
decided you want what we have, you obviously haven't been paying attention
to our stories. If you're still determined to get what we have and are
willing to exert minimal effort to get it--then you are ready for a
temporary sponsor.
At their first suggestion we balked. We were sure that our sponsors
didn't understand. We were determined to find a sponsor who would see
things our way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command,
we beg of you to take it easy on these old fools. Some of us have tried
to re-educate our sponsors but the result was nil until we let go of
them absolutely.
Remember that we are dealing with your ego, cunning, baffling, powerful!
Without constant praise and reassurance it is too much for us. But there
is one, and possibly more, who has all power, that one is your significant
other. May you find them now!
Half measures availed us nothing. It was time to move in together. Having
abandoned common sense completely, we asked his or her protection and care
with great expectations.
Here are the steps we took, which interpreted properly, offer a spiritual
path to staying sober and having your own way in a meaningful relationship:
1. Don't drink or get loaded. Try to ignore the fact that you've never
actually been able to do this.
2. Came to believe that the right relationship could restore us to sanity.
3 Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of our
significant other, assuming they had what we needed.
4 Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of our significant other.
5 Complained to God, to ourselves, and to our temporary sponsors about
the exact nature of their wrongs.
6 Were entirely ready to have God remove these defective characters.
7 Humbly demanded that He find us the right significant other.
8 Made a list of everyone we found attractive and became willing to have
significant relationships with them all.
9. Made direct amends to people we believed might still be willing to
help us restore our net worth, except when their significant other was
attractive to us.
10. Continued to find fault with others and when they were wrong promptly
pointed it out.
11. Sought through prayer and manipulation to improve the behavior of our
significant other, praying for knowledge of all their hot buttons and
just the right time to push them.
12. Having gotten our own way as the result of these steps, we tried to
convince our significant other that this was really for their own good,
and that their future happiness lay in doing my will.
Many of us exclaimed, "What an order! They won't go through with it."
Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to do this with just
one partner. Fortunately the treatment centers, meetings, and social
activities are full of prospects who are not saints. The point is, that
we are willing to keep replacing partners until we find one or more who
will do it our way.
The principles we have set down have proven themselves in coffee shops,
clubhouses, and meetings across the land. We claim personal development
rather than personal perfection.
Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the wives, and our
personal difficulties before and after make clear three pertinent ideas:
(a) That we were alcoholic and it wasn't our fault.
(b) That our current therapist and significant other could not relieve
our alcoholism.
(c) That the right partner could and would if they were sought.
:)
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Survey Says Drug Use Down In Teens
A survey conducted by the University of Michigan, with funding from NIDA (National Institute on Druge Abuse) says that drug use in teens is continuing a decline that began about a decade ago.
*thumbsup* Good news, eh?
Though alcohol and illicit drug use is down, the research still turned up a reasonably high level of prescription drug abuse in teens, so it has been suggested that the area of prescription medication abuse still requires attention and care.
8th - 10th - and 12th grade students participated in the survey/study from across the USA.
Though less than a quarter percent of younger 8th grade students admitted to experimenting with "illicit drugs," very close to HALF the older, 12th grade students had taken "illicit drugs."
Alcohol use declined and the study showed that Marijuana was the most widely used "illicit" drug.
The link for the report is available:
2006 US Teen Drug Use Survey (available from Hazelden.org )
I have further questions about this survey - particularly - about the use of the term 'illicit' drugs.
I have worries that even if the numbers are correct, maybe certain conclusions of the study are NOT CORRECT.
For instance, if we determine that 'illicit' drugs equals 'illegal' drugs - then some 12th graders who drink aren't using 'illicit' drugs if they are of legal drinking age. Don't some of the US States have the age of 19 set for their legal drinking age? If the forms they fill for the surveys - or the questions they're asked in person - contain the term 'illicit/illegal' drugs, and they're drinking but not using ILLEGAL drugs, then certain data might not be well reflected in the final result of the study.
Also - DOH! Everything is illegal and illicit to an 8th grader! lol
There are few doubts that 8th graders are nowhere NEAR legal age for drinking. So even if they had a beer, they did something illicit and illegal.
Anyway, those last couple of viewpoints aren't the REAL POINT here.
Just tossing those in to see if other people ever question some of these 'studies.' I mean - not that the studies are bad or good or anything else. I just always wonder about how to go about getting CORRECT information.
In the media, if you took that same survey and applied only a portion of it in a certain newscast or something, I'm sure you could come out with a statement saying something like, "8th graders showed the lowest drug use around 21%, however, 12th graders graduated on to more serious drugs and abuses at nearly 50%..."
I just wonder about this stuff, is all - because I recently did see a 'survey report' in print - in an established, popular newspaper which attributed teen drug use to broken homes - BUT - the data was faulty, as far as I am concerned
The survey was made up of participants that were kids MOSTLY FROM BROKEN HOMES and the survey was conducted from a TEEN RESOURCE and COUNSELLING SUPPORT CENTRE, where kids were specifically referred there FROM BROKEN HOMES. The centre has a specific program for children from broken homes - for them to 'network' and 'support' other kids specifically with similar backgrounds. That itself isn't any kind of problem. Saying a certain conclusion of a survey based on a mainly 'select' group - is kind of a problem for me.
Just thought I would put that 'OUT THERE'
Not trying to undermine the details of this survey tho' - just expressing that I think it's a good idea to 'research the research' sometimes.
And that's what I'm off to do!
Apparently, this site: "Monitoring The Future"
Has more details about the study, so that's where I'm off to now...
Just to check the research methodology.
Later *waves*
Have a grrrrrrr8 Day!
*thumbsup* Good news, eh?
Though alcohol and illicit drug use is down, the research still turned up a reasonably high level of prescription drug abuse in teens, so it has been suggested that the area of prescription medication abuse still requires attention and care.
8th - 10th - and 12th grade students participated in the survey/study from across the USA.
Though less than a quarter percent of younger 8th grade students admitted to experimenting with "illicit drugs," very close to HALF the older, 12th grade students had taken "illicit drugs."
Alcohol use declined and the study showed that Marijuana was the most widely used "illicit" drug.
The link for the report is available:
2006 US Teen Drug Use Survey (available from Hazelden.org )
I have further questions about this survey - particularly - about the use of the term 'illicit' drugs.
I have worries that even if the numbers are correct, maybe certain conclusions of the study are NOT CORRECT.
For instance, if we determine that 'illicit' drugs equals 'illegal' drugs - then some 12th graders who drink aren't using 'illicit' drugs if they are of legal drinking age. Don't some of the US States have the age of 19 set for their legal drinking age? If the forms they fill for the surveys - or the questions they're asked in person - contain the term 'illicit/illegal' drugs, and they're drinking but not using ILLEGAL drugs, then certain data might not be well reflected in the final result of the study.
Also - DOH! Everything is illegal and illicit to an 8th grader! lol
There are few doubts that 8th graders are nowhere NEAR legal age for drinking. So even if they had a beer, they did something illicit and illegal.
Anyway, those last couple of viewpoints aren't the REAL POINT here.
Just tossing those in to see if other people ever question some of these 'studies.' I mean - not that the studies are bad or good or anything else. I just always wonder about how to go about getting CORRECT information.
In the media, if you took that same survey and applied only a portion of it in a certain newscast or something, I'm sure you could come out with a statement saying something like, "8th graders showed the lowest drug use around 21%, however, 12th graders graduated on to more serious drugs and abuses at nearly 50%..."
I just wonder about this stuff, is all - because I recently did see a 'survey report' in print - in an established, popular newspaper which attributed teen drug use to broken homes - BUT - the data was faulty, as far as I am concerned
The survey was made up of participants that were kids MOSTLY FROM BROKEN HOMES and the survey was conducted from a TEEN RESOURCE and COUNSELLING SUPPORT CENTRE, where kids were specifically referred there FROM BROKEN HOMES. The centre has a specific program for children from broken homes - for them to 'network' and 'support' other kids specifically with similar backgrounds. That itself isn't any kind of problem. Saying a certain conclusion of a survey based on a mainly 'select' group - is kind of a problem for me.
Just thought I would put that 'OUT THERE'
Not trying to undermine the details of this survey tho' - just expressing that I think it's a good idea to 'research the research' sometimes.
And that's what I'm off to do!
Apparently, this site: "Monitoring The Future"
Has more details about the study, so that's where I'm off to now...
Just to check the research methodology.
Later *waves*
Have a grrrrrrr8 Day!
Friday, May 4, 2007
Alcohol Surveys
Hey People!
I don't know if you ever receive these - or how many 'mailing lists' you're on - but I just received almost a DOZEN 'spam-mail' surveys in the past day.
ALL of this spam pertains to surveys wanting to know my preferences for certain alcoholic beverages! All stuff I cannot drink.
Haha!
Darn - now that I am sober and recovering, I am not going to win the following prizes:
* a 1.5Gig MP3 Player
* 12 Free Hardcover books with the purchase of 1 book for only $4.99US
* a package of coupons redeemable at some USA location that I can't get to (for Wine products)
* a Coors Light cooler
* a ('nother beer company) ballcap w/matching T-shirt
* sports tickets for 2 to some US game that I can't get to anyway (lol)
* $100 cash, redeemable with 6 (Beer brand) proofs of purchase
And a Kokanee bottle opener if I just print a coupon out and take it to a participating liquor store haha.
I'm kinda ticked off 'bout losing that MP3 Player - however, the money I save by not drinking ought to allow me to buy a whole bunch of batteries now for my old MP3 Player, eh?
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh It's good to be sober tho'.....
Have a great day!
I don't know if you ever receive these - or how many 'mailing lists' you're on - but I just received almost a DOZEN 'spam-mail' surveys in the past day.
ALL of this spam pertains to surveys wanting to know my preferences for certain alcoholic beverages! All stuff I cannot drink.
Haha!
Darn - now that I am sober and recovering, I am not going to win the following prizes:
* a 1.5Gig MP3 Player
* 12 Free Hardcover books with the purchase of 1 book for only $4.99US
* a package of coupons redeemable at some USA location that I can't get to (for Wine products)
* a Coors Light cooler
* a ('nother beer company) ballcap w/matching T-shirt
* sports tickets for 2 to some US game that I can't get to anyway (lol)
* $100 cash, redeemable with 6 (Beer brand) proofs of purchase
And a Kokanee bottle opener if I just print a coupon out and take it to a participating liquor store haha.
I'm kinda ticked off 'bout losing that MP3 Player - however, the money I save by not drinking ought to allow me to buy a whole bunch of batteries now for my old MP3 Player, eh?
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh It's good to be sober tho'.....
Have a great day!
Monday, April 9, 2007
Program Promises
I must have been ONE FORTUNATE addict when I cleaned up - and it must have been 'my time' for sure, because I understood 'The Promises' and experienced a taste of them within my first week of sobriety.
Here are the Promises from pages 83 and 84 of the Alcoholics Anonymous book:
“If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.
Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us — sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them.”
I was definitely AMAZED before I was halfway through. What I realized during the first week of sobriety is that I had made a DECISION. That decision FREED ME from all the self-inflicted alcohol-depression, hangovers, the cycle of hangovers and binges. Though I didn't feel it very often at first, I did experience feelings of 'peace' in knowing I wasn't fully immersed and entangled in a trap anymore. I wasn't free from every bad thing, but I was FREE from GETTING DRUNK and initiating the next hangover, the next bout of depression and panic attacks.
I felt more FREEDOM knowing that I would never have to return to FEELING THAT OLD WAY if I didn't drink again. I didn't know how I was going to 'not drink' for the rest of my life...but after a few days of sobriety, I knew how I stayed sober the day before...and resolved that if I didn't know how I would stay sober 'TOMORROW' and 'JUST FOR ONE DAY' ahead of time, or even 'Just For Today' - that I would simply do what I did YESTERDAY.
Whatever works, right?
'The Promises,' for some reason, are a concept that, even at the start of my recovery, I never did take lightly. I made fun of them on the surface, but never strongly declared that I doubted the possibilities on pages 84 and 85 of the A.A. Literature. I am fortunate, because I grasped onto those pages RIGHT AWAY. I was never one who spent a lot of time asserting, "Those things will never happen with me!" A few of my peers who said that the promises would never appear in their lives have died drug-related deaths. Some are out drinking and drugging today. Most have just relapsed and disappeared. A small number of immediate peers with whom I started my recovery journey with - have stayed clean. I can count these only on hand, but they, too, say that they understand The Promises - and they understood pages 84 and 85 of the Big Book early on.
Apart from the decision I made 3 years ago - to stop drinking...I also made a decision that if I felt that any of 'The Promises' were transpiring in my life, I would REFUSE TO GIVE THEM UP. That has always meant, for me, that I refuse to trade any freedom I've gained, any peace, serenity I've ever felt since being sober, any 'new happiness'...for a drink.
Here are the Promises from pages 83 and 84 of the Alcoholics Anonymous book:
“If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.
Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us — sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them.”
I was definitely AMAZED before I was halfway through. What I realized during the first week of sobriety is that I had made a DECISION. That decision FREED ME from all the self-inflicted alcohol-depression, hangovers, the cycle of hangovers and binges. Though I didn't feel it very often at first, I did experience feelings of 'peace' in knowing I wasn't fully immersed and entangled in a trap anymore. I wasn't free from every bad thing, but I was FREE from GETTING DRUNK and initiating the next hangover, the next bout of depression and panic attacks.
I felt more FREEDOM knowing that I would never have to return to FEELING THAT OLD WAY if I didn't drink again. I didn't know how I was going to 'not drink' for the rest of my life...but after a few days of sobriety, I knew how I stayed sober the day before...and resolved that if I didn't know how I would stay sober 'TOMORROW' and 'JUST FOR ONE DAY' ahead of time, or even 'Just For Today' - that I would simply do what I did YESTERDAY.
Whatever works, right?
'The Promises,' for some reason, are a concept that, even at the start of my recovery, I never did take lightly. I made fun of them on the surface, but never strongly declared that I doubted the possibilities on pages 84 and 85 of the A.A. Literature. I am fortunate, because I grasped onto those pages RIGHT AWAY. I was never one who spent a lot of time asserting, "Those things will never happen with me!" A few of my peers who said that the promises would never appear in their lives have died drug-related deaths. Some are out drinking and drugging today. Most have just relapsed and disappeared. A small number of immediate peers with whom I started my recovery journey with - have stayed clean. I can count these only on hand, but they, too, say that they understand The Promises - and they understood pages 84 and 85 of the Big Book early on.
Apart from the decision I made 3 years ago - to stop drinking...I also made a decision that if I felt that any of 'The Promises' were transpiring in my life, I would REFUSE TO GIVE THEM UP. That has always meant, for me, that I refuse to trade any freedom I've gained, any peace, serenity I've ever felt since being sober, any 'new happiness'...for a drink.
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