I finally got around to checking out my medical history.  I knew that it was the week before thanksgiving. Now I have the year 2010. I have been sober six years. It wasn’t easy and I still have my moments, when I think nothing could be finer than a bottle of sake.  It took me seven years to get long term sobriety.  I kept falling off the wagon.   Thirteen years ago I ended 24 years of sobriety. My girlfriend died of cancer, my father and son died in the same week. I figured that a normal person would drink under those circumstances. What I did not know is that the compulsion to drink is hard wired in the brain. Once I started, I was off to the races. It was very difficult to attain sobriety, once I started drinking.

For the new comers, I do not go to AA. I rather have a root canal. If AA is not for you, there are many choices.  If it is good for you, keep going. It was in my dharma lessons that I learned how to stay sober. I am a Buddhist. Once I found my path, I followed it.  One cannot pick and choose paths. What you need to do is find your path and follow it. 

Group meetings were not for me. I tried several different groups, besides AA, before I realized that it simply wasn’t my path. AA revolved around a higher power. I do not have a higher power. I have to do it myself. Don’t go against your nature.  You have to do some soul searching to find what is best for you.