PLease Keep An Openmind, But If You Are Looking For Someone Else, IN Whom The Drink Problem Has ""Not"" Been Solved, IM Not Sure Where You Are Going, Or How Far You Are Going To Get, And If You Find Someone Who Knows What Is In the Book, But Is Only 1 to 8 Weeks, "DRY" My Experince Tells Me That They Did Not Do What The Book Said To Do Or Stopped Doing It, I Dont Know Why Someone Would If They Have HAd A Spiritual Experience, So Instead Of Finding Someone, Who Might Enable You Or Help Co-Sign Bullshit, You Ought To Find Someone Who Has Had A Spiritual Experience As The Result Of The Steps, And Who Is Living In The Sollution, Even Further, I Would Encourage You To Find Out If You Are Alcoholic, By Doing That You Will Find Out The Nature Of Your Fatal Malady, We Are All In This Together, But Some Of Us Have The Power To Kill You And Keep You Sick,""UNTREATED"" That Is, Trying To Give You A Hand Up Onto Dry Land, But All They Got Is Sinking Sand, And Some Of Us Have Been EXACTLY Where You Are, ""Dr.Bob. Had A Desperate Desire To Stop, But Saw No Way Out,He Earnestly Tried Many Avenue's Of Escape, All Availed Him Nothing, Being "PAINFULLY AWARE" That He Was Someowhat Abnormal, He Did Not Fully realize What It Meant To Be "ALCOHOLIC" If When You "HONESTLY WANT TO" You Find You Cannot Quit "Entirely" And When You Start To Drink, Do You Have "LITTLE CONTROL" Over The Amount You Take, You Are Probably Alcoholic, You May ""SUFFERING"" From An Illness Wich "ONLY" A Spiritual Experience "WILL CONQUER", The Wonderful News Is If You Answered Yes To Both Of These Questions, "YOU MAY BE IN LUCK"! The 12 Steps Of "ALCOHOLICS" Anonymous Are A Set Of Principles, DESIGNED To Produce A Spiritual Awakening, This Experience Is Absolutely, "VITAL" To The Alcoholic, You Can Do What You Would Like To, PLease Let Us Know How It Works Out For You, But If You Want What "WE" Got, And Are "WILLING" To GOTO "ANY-LENGTHS" For Victory Over Alcohol,Then You "MUST" Be Prepared To Take Certain Steps, Thank You And Godbless....

Well Godblesschris everything you write is certainly a testimony to how well you "keep an open mind" yourself especially when you accuse others of "bullshit". Clearly your vast AA experience has taught you the necessary dose of humility to succeed and to help others to succeed.

Oh crumbs!!! Can I just leap in here and say that because this is an on-line alcoholics anonymous-friendly group and we cannot assume that all people posting on here are alcoholics!

Some of us may just have found our drinking is getting out of hand and are exploring different options.

We are here to offer helpful and friendly advice and enlightenment re the AA way to anyone who wishes to seek it, please can we keep it way.

Of course AA is made up of people and people will have different opinions but words that denigrate ANYONE are NOT helpful and can create a bad name for AA unnecessarily.

As the twelve and twelve says on p.91 "Our first objective will be the development of self-restraint."

This is a part of Step 10 - I am sending a larger quote entitled "Axiom to Automatic" to the top of the list to remind ourselves of this.

Thanks, friends.

Oh crumbs!!! Can I just leap in here and say that this is an on-line alcoholics anonymous-friendly group and we cannot assume that all people posting on here are alcoholics!

Some of us may just have found our drinking is getting out of hand and are exploring different options.

We are here to offer helpful and friendly advice and enlightenment re the AA way to anyone who wishes to seek it, please can we keep it way.

Of course AA is made up of people and people will have different opinions but words that denigrate ANYONE are NOT helpful and can create a bad name for AA unnecessarily.

As the twelve and twelve says on p.91 "Our first objective will be the development of self-restraint."

This is a part of Step 10 - I am sending a larger quote from the 12 and 12 entitled "Axiom to Automatic" (by me) to the top of the list to remind ourselves of this.

Thanks, friends.

Quite Frankly I Feel Sorry For You, Im Sorry If You Took Offence To What I Said, I Was Speaking Honest And From Experience, If I Didnt Love You Enough To Tell You The Truth, I Could Have Easily "CURBED" The A.A. Message To Suit Your Needs, But I Didnt, Sorry You Are Haveing A Hard Time Sir, I Do Apreciate Where You Are At Though, And Understand, "COMPLETELY" Lol, This "IS NOT" A Popularity Contest, I "DO NOT" Take Credit For Anyones Sobriety, So I Dont Offer My Own Ideas And Sollutions, "REMEMBER", My Best Thinking Got Me Here, So Did Yours, PLease Do Whatever You Feel You Need To Do, But Next Time You Post Something, Maybe You Ought To Make It Clear What Kind Of Responses Will Be Apreciated, The Way I See It, PLease Keep An Openmind Of Course, This Is Just "MY OPINION" We Dont Change The Message, The Message Changes We, Sory Colon, I Dont Make This Stuff Up, And Nobody Acused You Of Bullshit, PLease Slooooooooow Down And Re-read, Mom Always Said The Truth Hurts, Thats How You Know If I Am Your Firend Or Not..But Once Again Thank You Fro That WONDERFUL Response, Ill Be Watching For My Christmas Card,((((HUGS))))Godbless....

Godbless, do you have to type every word starting with a capital. I try to read your wisdom, but is very hard to focus on. This was simple, the guy wanted people to respond to his post that had 1 to 8 weeks.

Welcome Calon. I've been in the program for over 20 years, but Recently went through a necessary experience.

I Get All That Simple Stuff, GnR, PLease Dont Complicate It Anymore, First OF All He Said He Would Be Interested In Corresponding That Means "C O M U N I C A T I N G" With "Anybody" who "Has-Been" Dry, He Didnt Say "WHO IS" Dry,For All I Know, He Is Loooking For Somebody Who Has "GONE" Through What He "IS" Going Through. So Like I Told Colon, Slooooooow Down And Re-read, PLease If You Are Going To Respond, Im Sorry You Are Haveing A Difficult Time Also, Again I Appologize, If I Offended Anyone, Its All Good, I See How This Works, Im New, I Dont Know Everyone, Relationships Have Been Established Along The Way, Dont Want To %%%% In Anyone's Lunch-Box, Sorry If You Do, Ty And Godbless, Thanks For The Advice GnR, My Advice To You Is To Stop Answering My Response Or Post If You Cant Read Em, You Can Pass That Information Along To Your Clik' Its Ok, I Am Aware, Of The Intentions,Ty And Godbless...

Hi carl and welcome to the group. There are lots of people on here that have varying lengths of sobriety. Based on my experience it is a good idea to surround yourslef with lots of people in all stages of recovery.

When i first got sober I hung around with other people who were only just sober too and though we all wanted to help each other none of us really had a clue what we needed to do to stay sober - bit like the blind leading the blind really. It didnt work out too well.

After that i still liked to talk to people who were at the same stage as me and so knew how I was feeling at that moment but I also knew that I needed to hook up with people who had been sober for a longer time and therefore knew what to do to stay sober. I stuck really close to people who had worked the 12 step program and were living sober and spiritual lives. This is what I wanted so I figured the best people to show me how to get it were people that already had it.

As I say you will find all sorts of lengths of sobriety here and hopefully you will get the help you need from all of us.

Nicky.

That is so true Nicky. When new to sobriety it is natural to try and group with others who are at the same stage as you and to an extent you can help each other because you have similar feelings and questions and can give each other good encouragement. However we cannot pass on experience we do not have and that is why we need to find what really works from people who have found recovery. Any growth puts us in an uncomfortable place because we have to adjust to a new way of being but with good and honest guidance we can all get there.

After reading and reading this time and time again and not feeling I had the 'experience' to reply to this post, I just wanted to say how proud I am of you Carl (and everyone else who is sober here today).

I know this hasnt been easy for you and sometimes without knowing all the AA lingo it can be a hard fight for newcomers and alot for us to get our heads around. I think that is why we like to have people at a similar stage to us, to talk things through with.

I think Nicky is right about keeping in touch with people who have varying degrees of sobrietry to help you, experience is so precious in life. Gail also, it should be friendly positive advice and as you are finding out, to bring change, we must change and that is what you are doing, one day at a time.

So.......well done my DS friend x

No problem here Chris, I can tell you live in the solution.
I just love wisdom and I can tell you have plenty to offer.

GNRoses, I did not mean to offend anyone.

I know in my AA meeting I have heard something about the thoughts of us as individuals are just that, that we should take what we want, and leave the rest (sorry, dont know exact words). I did not mean to offend anyone I did not mention, was just supporting my DS mate.

I admire anyone that is living in the solution for I am far from it.

Kate, my new buddy, I usually only respond to the original post. I saw that Chris was getting something off his shoulders, so I responded to him. AA is full of conflicts of interest. A person is not in sobriety if they can actually develop a resentment over the computer. No problem Kate, relax and just roll with it.

Thank you :)