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Saturday, December 16th

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    Saturday, December 16th

    Hello fellow LT abstainers:

    It's been a whole year. Somebody said, now I can say I am into year two of sobriety.

    Is is a time to let back on the throttle? To ease back on the program? To relax a bit?

    Not only no, but HELL no! I spent much time yesterday thinking about December 15th, 2005. What was going through my head back then? I dug deep to get at those memories, those sensations in my body.

    I remember a deep ache in and around my heart area. Deep depression. Hopelessness. Despair that took on the form of real physical sensations. I remember pain in every muscle and joint of my body. I remember the wheezing of each labored breath, with the worst of it yet to come. I can remember every single cell in my body being damaged, and weakened.

    Now, I look in the mirror, and see a set of eyes that are clear. I look closely at the iris in my eye, and see a consistency of the colors and lines that has not been there in three decades. The hair covering my head, is shiny, softer, and healthier. It is not dull, yellowish, brittle, dry and lifeless.

    My main muscles in the legs and arms are gaining mass and definition. Picking up a twenty pound object seems like lifting a feather, compared to a year ago. It is those individual muscle cells I meditate on. They are not poisoned and damaged, stuggling to contract or expand. Each cell is now alive with new power.

    I wonder, how much of my body is the same as last year. Our bodies are built to replace and elimate each individual cell over time. The old is eliminated, and the new is created.The muscles, the nerves, the bones, all are healing. The cells from a year ago, poisoned and struggling to function because of my self-destructions, are dissappearing. New cells, that have never seen the ethanol or acetaldehyde toxins are taking over.

    We are not our bodies, but the stuff that we really are is contained and housed by our bodies. I think is the Teilhard de Chardin that said we are not physical beings seeking a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a physical experience.

    No time to let up. Time to get busy. Time to become sober. I begin my second year, wondering just how strong I can become if I don't let up.

    Saturday morning. This is the time and place. I have gone through a couple of thousand hung over Saturday mornings in my life. I now have 53 sober and clear ones under my belt. It is good.

    Be well.

    Neil

    #2
    Saturday, December 16th

    Thanks for starting off this Saturday morning for us Neil. You set a great example for all of us. Just as Brigid does. "The Year Plus Club." You've both said, as you passed the one year mark, that it's not a time to let up. You've also both expressed a greater appreciation for life after a year of sobriety.

    One thing I always struggle with is staying in the present. I have to keep reeling myself back to today, to the here and now, because I keep trying to jump ahead or I get stuck on something in the past. I get very busy with projects and don't take time to savor and experience the moment. That's a big part of what my recovery is going to have to be about: learning to live in the NOW. Just breathe and experience life as it comes. Today is the only December 16, 2006 I will ever get. Don't squander it, Mike, on worry or regret. And thank God I'm not squandering it on a hangover.... I, too, wasted too many wonderful Saturdays on the couch recovering from my so-called "fun."

    Here's a little something from my meditation book for this day:

    "Remembering to live just today is a great help to those of us practiced at postponing our lives and our happiness. When we wait to live, we miss the chance to be here now. When our lives are on hold, we get busy but we never get intimate because we can't get intimate in the future, only in the present. Only today."

    For way too long, I put off getting sober. Why put off being happy and free? Today is the day to be sober. Today is the day to be happy. Today is the day to be free.

    ~ Mike
    "Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance." -- Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

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      #3
      Saturday, December 16th

      Neil and Mike,
      You give me great hope. It's tough for me right now, and reading posts like yours help immensely.
      Thank you!

      Comment


        #4
        Saturday, December 16th

        hi becca
        altho i'm not a long term abs i thot i would post some thing that i have learned over the years.
        we are caught up in this rush rush system and it seems like we never quite get everything done that we set out to do.
        on one of my sober weeks i had a real hard look at this and i realized that i could do do anything that i wanted to do AS LONG AS I DID IT SLOWLY ENOUGH.also meaning slowly enough to fit my style.

        i have done things i thot i was not capable of by just going very slowly and learning each step inside out.it takes time but the payoff is worth it.

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          #5
          Saturday, December 16th

          ...and I just wanted to say...Becca---you give me great hope.
          You have the courage of a lion!

          ..................and I know...I know...I have no right posting on long term abs!!!

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            #6
            Saturday, December 16th

            Hi everyone,

            Becca -- you CAN do this. I tried and failed so many times I can't even count. I may fail yet again but I pray to God that I don't. It just feels too good to have gotten this far. Even folks with months or years of sobriety struggle sometimes. Like Surfer said, we just have to give ourselves time. Like Neil said in a post a few days ago, it's like eating an elephant one bite at a time. Getting sober is relatively easy, but living sober is a big deal. It takes the rest of our lives to learn. Luckily, we don't have to do it alone. :l

            And for the record, I hope no one feels uncomfortable posting in this forum. It's not meant to be some exclusive club. We're just here to talk about staying sober in the long term.

            ~ Mike
            "Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance." -- Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

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