Alcoholism Support Group
Alcoholism is the continued consumption of alcoholic beverages, even when it is negatively affecting your health, work, relationships and life. If you think alcohol is causing you to lose control, it's time to seek help. Our group is a safe place to vent, check in, get back up if you fall, and reach sobriety.
I am responsible for myself, my recovery, my well-being, my happiness. All these things are, ultimately, my own responsibility.
--Anonymous
Our Higher Power does not lay claim to our free will. We can choose not to be responsible and make ourselves more miserable by going to new levels of despair and depression. Or we can seize every opportunity for a better life. We are responsible.
When we were newcomers and just getting started, we were generally very confused. We welcomed the support. Many of us were fed up with our lives and would have freely turned them in for a different model. But we learned to put into action what we were learning. We are responsible.
Our sponsors give us good advice and sound instructions. We can choose to listen to the advice or not. We are responsible.
Although we will always be dependent on God for our strength, it is up to us to ask God for that strength and do the necessary work to receive it. We are responsible.
Today, I'll remember my Higher Power has given me free will to accept or reject responsibility. My life is better when I act responsibly.
--Anonymous
Our Higher Power does not lay claim to our free will. We can choose not to be responsible and make ourselves more miserable by going to new levels of despair and depression. Or we can seize every opportunity for a better life. We are responsible.
When we were newcomers and just getting started, we were generally very confused. We welcomed the support. Many of us were fed up with our lives and would have freely turned them in for a different model. But we learned to put into action what we were learning. We are responsible.
Our sponsors give us good advice and sound instructions. We can choose to listen to the advice or not. We are responsible.
Although we will always be dependent on God for our strength, it is up to us to ask God for that strength and do the necessary work to receive it. We are responsible.
Today, I'll remember my Higher Power has given me free will to accept or reject responsibility. My life is better when I act responsibly.
It is tricky to know how to think, what to do, and what action to take. Simple for some maybe. Not me. I am terminally unique. :-p (jk)
We pray for guidance, that we may know. We pray for strength, that we might persevere. And we pray for miracles. Why? Because we want to feel as though we are not alone. Responsible, yes. But it takes more than Willful response. Everyone needs to be carried now again, and some are sicker than others.
"Responsible" is tricky. Clarity lights the way. Without it, misguided, we are stumbling, flailing, wandering... We do the best we can, and that is our first responsibility.
I am taking responsibility by doing the best I can.
Nice.
Learning how to live sober was a lot like learning now to swim or ride a bicycle. Many of us, myself included, needed water wings or training wheels to get started. But it is our responsibility, and no one else's, to decide when we can begin to trust our newly acquired skills to keep us afloat or in balance and be ready to dispense with these props when the time comes.
I know a few people in AA who've been sober in AA for decades and who still rely on a sponsor to get through each day. These people never reach a point, or so they themselves say, where they can trust their own instincts and intuitions to make good decisions.
I truly believe these folks give AA a well-deserved bad name, and I also believe it's my responsibility to say that once in a while.
I always found something wrong with the sponsor prospects in my meetings. Those oldtimers... you know? And guess what? One day I got dumb enough to just start saying "Yes ma'mm" and "Yes sir" to anyone who was sober a long time. I just started following direction. So, I got sober. I got 3 mos. Then I got "smart" again. I decided I knew better. I am powerful. I am strong willed "by design". I thanked my HP for the enlightenment and walked right out the door.
...I am responsible. I was and still am responsible. Right or wrong I am responsible. I am certainly accountable enough if not "responsible" Enough. Did I make the right decision? Remains to be seen. I do lay in my own bed.
I say responsibility is tricky. Absent clarity, it means nothing for our recovery. Have to have the clarity. I pray I do.
But...All in the game of Life.I just listened and learned, G O D always there in some form.
Happy for that,
Billy
"...it is our responsibility, and no one else's, to decide when we can begin to trust our newly acquired skills to keep us afloat or in balance and be ready to dispense with these props when the time comes."
Good stuff that is.
~Chris
What a thread. To one and all above me, you hit me good.
Holey Moley...nice thread.
I'm taking the whole thing. [knucklebumb]