Staying Clean and Sober in The Everyday World

It would appear that I have more readers than I imagined.  I want to apologize first of all to all of you who read my blog regularly.  I have been out of town for a week and had a lot of things to do upon my return so I have been unable to post for awhile.  Second I must thank both of my friends who had the same idea on the same day.  My friend Robin, who is a true gem, and my friend Danny, who is the bomb, both decided to give me the Lemonade award on the same day and I was out of town.  so I will post it now.  Many thanks to both of you for your love and confidence in me.

For the rest of you, I ask that you visit both Robin and Danny by clicking their names.

Here is what the award is all about:

The concept is quite simple. It is all about finding people that display a great attitude and/or gratitude. In this day and time, that is very important to have. Once nominated, all one needs to do is add the logo that is on here and find 10 more bloggers to nominate. All of the rules are listed below.
When I first got nominated, I started thinking about who I knew that all had great attitudes. It was not hard for me to find the 10 that I wanted to nominate. I would have liked to give it away to more, but that would just have been greedy. So, without further ado, lets get this party started.

http://mentalhealthhumor.today.com/

BigShoes.today.com

http://talkingbaby.today.com/

 http://frugalliving.today.com/

 http://exchangeofrealities.today.com

http://motherforlife.today.com/

 http://todaystyle.today.com/

 http://recoveryrocks.today.com/

 http://sidecarsally.today.com/

http://homeremodeling.today.com/

Congratulations to all the winners. Share this opportunity with your favorite bloggers by doing the following:

1) Put the logo on your blog or post.

2) Nominate at least 10 blogs, which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!

3) Be sure to link to your nominees within your post

4) Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

5) Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.

RELAPSE PREVENTION MEASURES

Recovery Party Central

As someone in recovery well knows, the upcoming holidays are a dangerous time for us.  What with the Christmas parties at work and the New Years Eve parties and let’s not forget the BIG football games coming soon.  It is like Party Central this time of year.  Everyone every where is having a party.  It is almost like they are out to purposely sabotage our hard work at staying clean and sober.  I’m here today to share some great relapse prevention measures with you.

Great Recovery Idea!

So here is a fantastic idea for avoiding all that temptation.  I just know you will love it.

Host Your Own Addiction Free Party!

Yes that is right!  Host your own New Years Eve party and that way you can decide what is and is not allowed.  No drugs. No alcohol.   Be sure to have party favors, music, dancing, games, TV, and jokes galore.  Invite your new friends who are also clean and sober to provide the cool atmosphere of any other party without the extras you are trying to avoid.  Make your house the place for safe partying this year.  Remember you are still just as much fun as you used to be only better.

Another Bright Recovery Party Idea

Go to a church party.  If your church does not have a party go to someone elses church.  You know they have been inviting you.  It is a great way to fellowship.  Take some of your old friends with you so they can see how much fun you are having in your “new Life”.  Some are more fun that others.  As a general rule for me, I go to the bigger churches who use contemporary music in their worship service.

That is just a few of the great ideas I have heard lately to remain clean and sober through the holidays and not lose sight of your recovery.  Let me know how it goes.

Testimony Tuesday

Did you forget?  I need your testimonies for a Tuesday post.  Tell me how you got clean and sober or what you are doing now that you are clean and sober.  Something to encourage those who are trying to get there.

e-mail me:

cathyisgodschild@live.com

 We will continue with our list concerning our sexual forays.  If you missed Sunday’s post then you would need to go back and start there.  Here is the rest of the list for the other 3 columns.

Column 3 (Did we unjustifyably arouse jealousy, suspision or bitterness)

1. Jealousy:

• Of her, him, family, friends, co-workers, etc.
• How did I cause jealousy (tricking, flirting, also see Suspicion below)?

     2.  Suspicion:

• Of her, him, family, friends, co-workers, etc.
• How did I cause suspicion (lying, tricking, flirting, coming home late etc.)?

     3.  Bitterness:

• About her, him, family, friends, co-workers, etc.
• About me (guilt, shame)
• How did I cause bitterness?

Column 4 (Where was I at fault?)

• Was I selfish, self-seeking, dishonest, or fearful, thoughtless, uncaring?

Column 5 (What should I have done instead?)

• Not used the person
• Respected him/her
• Tried to be a friend
• Been candid and open
• Cared about him/her
• Treated him/her as I would have wanted to be treated

This exercise is not done over night.  You will need to go back through your past and look at ALL of your sexual partners (or at least as many as you can remember).  This is not easy but I promise the results are rewarding.  As a result of completing this exercise you will know your mistakes and be able to avoid many of them in the future which will lead you to a healthy and satisfying relationship.  I encourage you to take the time and energy required to complete this.

Christian Glitter by www.christianglitter.com

I wanted to take a short break today to talk about the Serenity prayer and what it means to those of us who are in recovery.  We say it so often that we sometimes take it for granted and do not fully comprehend the deeper meaning.

It starts with God.  God has a different meaning for everyone.  Being a devoted Christian myself, I know the awesome power in calling to God.

“Grant me” is asking for a gift. This is an acknowledgment that we can not achieve these things on our own.  We are putting in a request to the One who can fulfill our desire when we have tried everything else.

Serenity is a peace of mind that surpasses all understanding.

Accept is to let go of our desire to control other people, places, and things.  This is an impossible task on our own.

Courage is one thing that is difficult for us to muster up at times therefore we must ask for it.  we are so set in the comfort of what we know that it requires real courage to make a change.  Stepping out of our comfort zone is a scarey proposition at best.  We become so familuar with things in our addiction that to make a change in our behavior means that we must venture into the unknown.  The unknown is frightening and requires courage to make that venture.

Wisdom  is another thing that we are not familuar with.  we think we are wise but wisdom is not measured my what we know but by what we do with what we know.  True wisdom comes from above and God gives freely to those who ask.

Knowing the difference between what we can and can not change is essential to our recovery.

As an addict we tend to lean toward our own understanding and therefore we must call upon God to  give us true understanding.  That is the true message behind the Serenity Prayer.

The next time you say it do so with a true desire for your request to be granted and watch the difference this makes in your life.

 We are going to look deeply into our sexual history and how we conducted ourselves.    In a detailed 4th step we must take a look at every aspect of our life and how it affected our addiction or other areas of our life to keep us trapped in our addiction.   This will require us to be honest and fearless in our look into our past sexual forays. Continue Reading »