Question:

How did you get sober and stay sober?

One Alcoholic/Addicts Answer:

That is a great question!  Normally, if you are like me...you have to be locked up (Jail) or institutionalized (Mental Wards or Treatment Hospitals).  I have been both.  However, it does not have to come to that point with you.  You can decide that you have had enough and stop now before it comes to that point.  The sad part is, once it comes to that point...you may not be able to stop anyway!  That is the insanity of drug addiction and/or alcoholism.  Really...they are the same thing anyway.  Alcohol is a drug!

So, what really kept me sober was filling my day with meetings, working the steps, a sponsor, the fellowship, service work, recovery literature and prayer.  All of these are important!   When you feel like a drink or a drug...CHANGE YOUR THINKING !!!  What is it that you could be doing instead of drinking and/or drugging?  When you feel like a drink...go to a meeting, work a step, call your sponsor, go to an event, seek out a way to volunteer your time, read recovery literature or pray pray pray !!!

Two KEY WORDS:  HOW and HALT...HOW stands for Honesty, Open Mindedness and Willingness.  The most important is probably Willingness to go to any lengths to stay sober.  Get off your butt and get to work!

HALT stands for Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired.  If any of these four items are bothering you, you need to take care of them.  Eat if you are Hungry, read literature on anger or talk to your sponsor if you are angry, go to a meeting or an event if you are lonely and sleep if you are tired.

I have no idea how it works, but it does.  Just do it!

-  An Alcoholic Addict

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20.00 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?"

Hands started going up.

He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this.  He proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill.

He then asked, "Who still wants it?"

Still the hands were up in the air.

Well, he replied, "What if I do this?"  And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe.   He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty.

"Now, who still wants it?"

Still the hands went into the air.

“My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson.  No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value.  It was still worth $20.  Many times in our lives,  we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way.  We feel as though we are worthless.  But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value.  Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased,  you are still priceless to those who DO LOVE you.  The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE.

You are special - Don't EVER forget it."

If God brings you to it, He will see you through it!