Saturday, October 15, 2011

Today I choose recovery

 “We did not choose to become addicts.”
Basic Text, p. 3
––––=––––
When we were growing up, all of us had dreams.  Every child has 
heard a relative or neighbor ask, “What do you want to be when 
you grow up?”  Even if some of us didn’t have elaborate 
dreams of success, most of us dreamed of work, families, 
and a future of dignity and respect.  But no one asked, “Do you want 
to be a drug addict when you grow up?”
We didn’t choose to become addicts, and we cannot choose to 
stop being addicts.  We have the disease of addiction.  We are not 
responsible for having it, but we are responsible for our recovery.  
Having learned that we are sick people and that there is a way of recovery, 
we can move away from blaming circumstances—or ourselves—
and into living the solution.  We didn’t choose addiction,
but we can choose recovery.
––––=––––
Just for today:  I choose recovery.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

while you are sitting there judging my life, yours is passing you by!!





does anyone else hate being an alcoholic or addict?

first off, is the stigma attached to the label.
with the exception of those in recovery, the
general public has no conception of what it
feels like to be in our shoes.

next is the constant scrutiny of when we are
going to screw up.
many of our past attempts and failures give
people good reason to be suspicious.

the thing i miss the most is the social aspect.
whether it was the beer at the ball park, or
choosing a wine for dinner, there was something
enticing about drinking for relaxation or just
lessening the inhibitions(shy folks know what i mean)

of course no one misses the final stages of compulsive
drinking; but for those who took a long time to get to
that stage, there are good memories to draw from.

so until someone invents a pill that allows me
to drink or use safely, i will keep those former days as just that; memories.



Sunday, September 18, 2011

September twenty eleven

So I had surgery on September 7th, they had to repair a torn ligament and take out a big chunk of bone. Funny story, they put in a pain pump, lidocaine. I went back to the dr. a week later and he said, the lidocaine should be basically gone, and I'm like what? I still have most of it and he says "haven't you been pushing the button to dose yourself" "what button" oh geez, nobody told me about the damn button. so I made it the first week with little pain relief. It's been almost two weeks now, and it's slowly getting better, I am on crutches for roughly six weeks, (non weight bearing) and hopefully this will fix my years of problems and ultimately the beginning of my addiction.

I just got back from St. George with my Grandma, grandpa, aunt, mom, and sister. We went to Tuachan to see Grease and the little mermaid! Amazing! For TLM they flooded the stage to make it look like the ocean, it a really fun trip. We even got to stay in the presidential suite, we had a hot tub on the deck, which was awesome, except that, hmmm... im in a cast. sad day.

Also Thought I'd add this for my addict friends, and hell for those of you who aren't, maybe it'll help you understand, uh, something :)
If God spoke to AA he might have said: 

Into your weak and feeble hands I have entrusted a power beyond your estimate.  To you has been given that which has been denied the most learned of your fellows.  Not to scientists or statesmen, not to wives or mothers, not even to my priests and ministers have I given this gift of healing other alcoholics, which I entrust to you.  It must be used unselfishly.  It carries with it grave responsibility.  No day can be too long, no demands upon your time can be too urgent, no case too pitiable, not task too hard, no effort too great.  It must be used with tolerance, for I have restricted its application to no race, no creed, and no denomination.  Personal criticism you must expect, lack of appreciation will be common, ridicule will be your lot, your motives will be misjudged.  Success will not always attend your efforts in your work with other alcoholics.  You must be prepared for adversity, for what men call adversity is the ladder you must use to ascend the rung toward spiritual perfection.  I shall not exact of you beyond your capabilities.

You are not selected because of your exceptional talents; and be careful always, if success attends your efforts, not to ascribe it to personal superiority, that to which you can lay claim only by virtue of my gift.  If I had wanted learned men to accomplish this mission, the power would have been entrusted to the physician and the scientist. If I had wanted eloquent men there would have been many anxious for the assignment, for talk is the easiest used of all talents with which I have endowed mankind. If I had wanted scholarly men, the world is filled with better qualified than you who would have been available. You were selected because you have been outcasts of the world, as your long experience as a drunkard has made, or should make you, humbly alert to the cries of distress that come from the lonely hearts of alcoholics everywhere.  Keep ever in mind the admission that you made on the day of your profession of A.A.-- namely, that you are powerless, and that it was only with your willingness to turn your life and will into my keeping that relief came to you.

Think not, that because you have been dry one year or two years, or ten years, that it is the result of your unaided efforts. The help which has been keeping you normal will keep you so just as long as you live this program which I have mapped out for you. Beware of the pride that comes from growth, the power of numbers and invidious comparisons between yourselves, or your organization with other orginizations whose sucess depends on numbers, money and position. These material things are no part of your creed. The success of material organization comes from pooling of joint assets: yours from the union of mutual liabilities. Appeal for membership in material organizations is based upon a boastful recital of their accomplishments: yours on the humble admission of weakness.  The motto of successful commercial enterprise is: "he profits most who serve best." The wealth of material organizations, when they take the inventory, is measured by what they have left: yours, when you take moral inventory, by what you have given.

Stopping vs. stayed stopped.

Most likely because I had lots of practice, I became pretty good at stopping using. The pain and embarrassment would typically reach a level that negated the benefits of continued using, so I would dig deep and summon the willpower to stop. The act was usually accompanied by dramatic promises of some sort; maybe a vow to eat better, take vitamins or join a gym.  There had to be some new wrinkle to convince myself I wasn't simply repeating the madness of the last time.  Some of these "cures" took on a pathetic, gimmicky quality:  I can remember one time thinking that a new breakfast cereal or tattoo might just be all that stood between me and a lifetime of sobriety.

Yeah, stopping was no picnic, but it was relatively easy compared to "staying stopped." That part of the deal-- the ongoing sobriety--always proved tricky for me.  Astonishingly, even the grandest plans to mold a new sober existence sometimes lasted only a day or two.  Or I'd make it a week, pronounce myself not an addict or alcoholic, and celebrate by using and drinking alcoholicly for a couple weeks.  
When I stop using, the first part of me that gets well is my body.  No spiritual program of recovery is required for my organs and systems to return to normal function.  They simply need the absence of drugs and time.  It's painful to get through, but usually a few days/weeks of shaking and sweating is enough to get you feeling reasonably normal again.  
So the body is restored painfully but quickly(in the scheme of things).  The appetite returns.  We begin to feel normal (ok, less abnormal). And it's at this point, just as we're physically out of the woods and feeling human again, that the battle shifts from stopping to "staying stopped."  Our momentum is no longer fueled by physical pain or our embarassment over that late night facebook post.  So our resolve gets revised.
Geez.  Maybe I overreacted a bit.  I mean, sheesh, it's not like I murdered anyone!
It's not that we forget what happened, we just remember it differently.  This is addict/alcoholic thinking-- a subtle rewriting of history with the edges softened just enough to permit us to use again.  It's also Grade-A, un-cut insanity, but it doesn't feel that way.  It feels normal.   You see, an insane mind cannot identify an insane thought.
 Abstinence treats the physical aspect of addiction-- after a period of time, we no longer suffer from the CONSTANT irresistable urge and craving.  We feel well.  We go to NA/AA meetings and share just how much better things have become--and they have: we've stopped wetting our bed, can form basic sentences, and we're remembering our conscious moments.  Life is almost normal. 
So normal, in fact, that we believe we can use/drink like normal people.
Addiction is so cunning that it is willing to starve for a period of time to convince us we're OK.  It patiently waits for our momentum to die.  And rather than re-emerge in a fantastic flurry, it quietly creates a mental blank spot where we are unable to summon the memory of our experience.  I always fell for it quietly.
"Staying stopped" is not about abstinence.  It's about understanding the futility of abstinence alone, of recognizing the Groundhog Day life we're leading.  We stay stopped when we recognize the futility of our will, and become willing to do whatever is required to be relieved of the madness.  When we are restored to sanity through working the steps, we are no longer prey to strange mental blank spots.  We are aware and present. We'll always be addicts and alcoholic, but we have recovered from the inability to distinguish the true from the false.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

You might be an addict if..........


I posted this on facebook and I thought the conversation was hilarious so I thought I'd share it here :)

Feel free to add more in the comment section!

you might be an addict if... (this is where u all get creative and finish the sentence)
August 11 at 3:11pm ·  · 
    • Cody Baker i think i can do meth cause its not my drug of choice!!!!!!! haha
      August 11 at 3:25pm ·  ·  1 person
    • Michelle Hansen You can never remember to take your meds, but you never would forget if you could snort smoke or shoot them!
      August 11 at 3:26pm · 
    • Cody Baker hahahahahaha if you huff axe body spray to get a buzz
      August 11 at 3:27pm · 
    • Michelle Hansen or when you're smoking, you talk before you blow our the smoke.
      August 11 at 3:28pm · 
    • Cody Baker if eating rolos makes you jones!!!!!!
      August 11 at 3:29pm ·  ·  1 person
    • Kara Smith you pawn dvds
      August 11 at 3:33pm · 
    • Michelle Hansen Or you are a walking pharmacy, you know every drug, what it does, the side effects what can be taken with it, (legally) and what you can take with it even though it isn't recommended! lol
      August 11 at 3:33pm · 
    • Kara Smith if you take the bus to the city
      August 11 at 3:34pm ·  ·  2 people
    • Cody Baker if you have ciggarette burns in all the clothes you own
      August 11 at 3:34pm · 
    • Michelle Hansen You pawn everything! and even when you have the money to get it back, it's not worth your trouble. Even though you've pawned something worth maybe $200 and need to pay $10 to get it back
      August 11 at 3:34pm · 
    • Michelle Hansen Wait what, you still own clothes? All my shit was stolen
      August 11 at 3:35pm · 
    • Kara Smith ya i remember the old rolo trick...thats funny
      August 11 at 3:35pm · 
    • Cody Baker hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
      August 11 at 3:35pm · 
    • Cody Baker if most of your friends have died due to drug overdoses :(
      August 11 at 3:36pm ·  ·  1 person
    • Kara Smith or when you're on a cruise and you ask the ships kitchen for baking soda, and say you have dentures and need to soak them
      August 11 at 3:36pm ·  ·  1 person
    • Michelle Hansen You make a gratitude list and consider putting cigarettes on it ( I did that!
      August 11 at 3:37pm · 
    • Michelle Hansen if you ever picked something off the floor and smoked it... just in case it was drugs that you dropped
      August 11 at 3:38pm · 
    • Michelle Hansen Two words.. CARPET SURFER!
      August 11 at 3:38pm · 
    • Kara Smith sucks especially when you have a cat, and you have kitty litter in the house...
      August 11 at 3:38pm · 
    • Michelle Hansen You spend the majority of your day in the bathroom.
      August 11 at 3:39pm ·  ·  1 person
    • Michelle Hansen You take EVERYTHING with you EVERYWHERE you go!
      August 11 at 3:39pm · 
    • Kara Smith with the shower on
      August 11 at 3:39pm ·  ·  1 person
    • Michelle Hansen You guys are both undercovers huh!
      August 11 at 3:40pm · 
    • Cody Baker your most prised posetion is baking soda, spoons and brilo pad
      August 11 at 3:40pm ·  ·  1 person
    • Kara Smith dont forget the tire gauge
      August 11 at 3:41pm · 
    • Michelle Hansen You go to walmart between the hours of 2 and 6 am with no money just because you need somewhere to stay.
      August 11 at 3:41pm · 
    • Cody Baker if the term bell ringer means something to you!!!
      August 11 at 3:41pm ·  ·  1 person
    • Kara Smith dont miss those days at all....
      August 11 at 3:42pm · 
    • Cody Baker HELL NO!!!!!!!!!!
      August 11 at 3:42pm · 
    • Cody Baker CHEERS TO SOBRIETY GIRLS :)
      August 11 at 3:43pm · 
    • Michelle Hansen I'll be there in five minutes.................................... six hours later.... where are you dude?
      August 11 at 3:43pm · 
    • Michelle Hansen CHEERS!
      August 11 at 3:43pm · 
    • Kara Smith CHEERS!!!
      August 11 at 3:43pm · 
    • Michelle Hansen You know the terms: footballs, oranges, bars, slices, xany's, black, white, snow, etc.
      August 11 at 3:45pm · 
    • Cody Baker If an illegal imigrant is your best friend!!!!
      August 11 at 3:47pm ·  ·  1 person
    • Michelle Hansen You know that the "mexicans" close and you talk to them more than anyone else
      August 11 at 3:48pm · 
    • Michelle Hansen Your blankets all have holes in the corners from behind pinned to the wall to cover windows.
      August 11 at 3:48pm ·  ·  2 people
    • Kara Smith when they know youre going to call at 9 am right when they open...they are expecting your call
      August 11 at 3:48pm · 
    • Cody Baker if they are willing to meet you in the middle of the night cause you bring them so much money
      August 11 at 3:49pm · 
    • Michelle Hansen or ask you to hang out cause you're that close of friends.
      August 11 at 3:49pm · 
    • Michelle Hansen Their number is on speed dial
      August 11 at 3:50pm · 
    • Cody Baker You know that your an addict if............... this whole conversation is making you jones hahahah
      August 11 at 3:51pm ·  ·  2 people
    • Michelle Hansen That's freakin hillarious!
      August 11 at 3:52pm · 
    • Cody Baker heres the real kicker
      August 11 at 3:53pm · 
    • Cody Baker you know your an addict if you turn down sex to go hook
      August 11 at 3:53pm ·  ·  2 people
    • Michelle Hansen Love it that's hillarious!
      August 11 at 3:53pm · 
    • Genesa Renee Bowler if u have read the basic text cover to cover more then once
      August 11 at 9:52pm ·