12 years today, thanks to AA

[gerryBScot]

Yup my journey into sobriety began 12 years ago when I rolled up at my first AA meeting at lunchtime in Northfields, out west in London. There unwittingly ended 25 years of drinking. Even before I picked up a drink myself, my life had been hugely affected by alcohol due to my parents' drinking. I don't think this had any relationship with my own alcoholism beyond conditioning me to the acceptability and normality of the behaviour that goes with the crazy drinking that we drunks get involved in. I never drank 'normally', - it was like pressing a switch, I was off and I drank abnormally from the off. It would be wrong to describe my life since as a cake walk - there have been many difficulties and problems which I have been able to negotiate, sometimes better than others. There have been lows and highs and lots of good, ordinary times in between. In amongst it all I have managed to move out here, get married for the first time,( how my wife and I got married is the stuff of fairy tales), father two great kids, (another first) and work. At the point of my first AA meeting I might have resorted to violence if someone had suggested it might work out the way it has. I've done it the AA way which surprised many people who knew me. Probably the most important decision I ever made. As always no big celebrations, a quiet family evening with the people who matter in my life. As I live in the sticks I don't get to many meetings these days but I checked in at Hua Hin recently and perhaps I'll come into BKK for a meeting this weekend. So I'm grateful to this forum and the people who hang out here - it's very helpful to me, especially those people who are struggling and in that insidious position of being unsure, in the debating society as we say. May your higher power bless you all!

[WitawatWatawit]

You did what needed to be done and took the decision with great strength of character. Respects.

I'm 1 year on the wagon, but it was heart trouble that brought me to my senses. Before that I thought I was able to cope with drinking. What a crock of self-delusion. Since quitting, life just continues to get better. (I won't bore you with the details.)

Best to all.

[gerryBScot]

You did what needed to be done and took the decision with great strength of character. Respects.

I'm 1 year on the wagon, but it was heart trouble that brought me to my senses. Before that I thought I was able to cope with drinking. What a crock of self-delusion. Since quitting, life just continues to get better. (I won't bore you with the details.)

Best to all.

Thanks and great stuff. Doesn't matter why we did it - just that we did it. My motivation was in part based on a significant, irregular heartbeat which went after about two years' sobriety. So keep it going and good luck.

[steven100]

Well done gerry. Good story and great courage and determination to follow through with what you wanted to accomplish.

The rest of your life will be a piece of cake after all that ...

[faraday]

A great achievement....well done.

" One drink is too many, & a thousand is never enough"

[lovelomsak]

Congratulations. May you have many more happy sober years ahead of you.

[worgeordie]

Congratulations,I am sure your story will give others hope,to take the first step.

regards worgeordie

[Mr Somtam]

Congratulations! I know from experience that some people (including myself)just can't handle alcohol or other intoxicants. And that it's hard to take that first step.

[HooHaa]

cheers!

[noahvail]

Well done, Gerry, and congratulations! May you long continue on your path.

[Torrens54]

Congratulations to you, AA and all others who have done the same.

I did a TV News story on AA in South Australia many years ago, and was surprised to meet a couple of people I knew who were attending.

I have always admired the work done by AA and while I have never needed it myself, thanks to retirement and living in CNX on a miserable Aussie Aged Pension, which is reduced because I choose to live abroad, I may have required help, but no longer have enough money to buy alcohol any more anyway.

[stoli]

Congratulations on your journey.

[impulse]

Happy Birthday!

We get 2 birthdays every year. For me, the AA birthday is much more meaningful.

[Jessi]

Congratulations & well done, please keep up the good work. Believe me its worth it.

This year I will celebrate 35 years of total sobriety, thanks to AA and all the members that helped this very very sick Alcoholic.

It has been a wonderful journey with all of these years of freedom.

BUT! I am still only "One drink" from being a drunken bum again and never want to go back to that life of hell.

[Deli]

[mamypoko]

Happy birthday! Keep coming back.

[impulse]

"This year I will celebrate 35 years of total sobriety, thanks to AA and all the members that helped this very very sick Alcoholic."

way to congratulate yourself instead of the OP. Perhaps you forgot the part about humility.

In a lot of places around the world, it's customary to introduce yourself with your sobriety date or your years of sobriety.

It's not bragging as much as letting newcomers know that it does work, and that people can actually stay sober and happy about it for a long time.

I know before I darkened the door of my first AA meeting, I though it was a place where alkies went in between benders.

[quandow]

[kwak250]

Just managed 5 days .thought that was good?

[Petchou]

Sincere congratulations for an amazing achievement. You are the good example for those who are still battling with the alcohol or narcotics dependences.

Bravo

[houlicha]

Heartfelt congrats to all my brothers, 5 days to 35 years. I'll be 5 years on June 12, God willing.

[alfalfa19]

Good job, I salute you. I'm in NA myself, and know well the horrors of addiction/alcoholism. I am grateful and very lucky to be alive, clean and free today.

[luk AJ]

Congratulations! For me almost 3 years without AA. I have deep respect for all those people who could quit. Your reference to the "switch" is exactly how I felt it. Born without a dimmer. Same for smoking which I quit long time ago..the biggest problem I have is that there are no alternatives to alcoholic drinks besides orange juice and a coke.

[samuibeachcomber]

takes special courage to achieve what you done, and i am sure everyday can still be a battle,like a smoker giving up,it never leaves you,but you have a good life now with your own family to give you strength.best wishes for the future.

[maybefitz]

Gerry, with 12 years enjoying life - can I give you another positive? I'm approaching 47 years sober; and yes, it does get better. I am happier now than I've ever been, so your continued sobriety will add more and more to your quiet contentment and peace of mind. The 'peace of mind' target is to me, one of the most significant elements of long term sobriety. We are all doing the same thing, living 'just for today' - ODAAT.

[Saan]

My mother and father had been separated since I was a young child and never saw each other. When my mother was in her sixties she was attending an AA meeting when she heard movement as someone took the chair next to her. She turned to see who it was and to her horror there was my father.

Good luck to all who are a struggling with their demons.

[Dogbreath]

Congratulations on your twelve years clean and sober. What a wonderful life we AAs have compared to before we "put the plug in the jug. I could not imagine life without booze before I found AA. I think it is God's gift to us drunks. Well done.

[gerryBScot]

Ladies and Gentlemen I am overwhelmed by your messages of congratulations and support and the snippets of your lives that you have shared. Many thanks to you all and may you all flourish, just for today, get to bed clean and sober and resume that happy trudge tomorrow morning for another 24 hours.

[wanderluster]

my name is doug and i am an alcoholic,, some 20yrs now,, or as i like to kid myself a functioning alcoholic, cause i dont drink till the sun goes down.. I just want to congradulate you on your birthday/anniversary,, it is a monumental feat in my mind, as i once went 3 days, and the cravings were astronimical.

[impulse]

my name is doug and i am an alcoholic,, some 20yrs now,, or as i like to kid myself a functioning alcoholic, cause i dont drink till the sun goes down

Functioning alcoholic: One whose wife has a good job.

I suppose if one has never been to an AA meeting, the humor we find there may not make much sense.

Keep coming back! Make it 21.