2709: Chip Committed

[Keith]

Originally Posted by bendaniels209

Certain words have been used in the early years of this show that might cause concern if hate speech laws were enacted.

Oh Ben...

[Just a fan]

Originally Posted by ValC

One of the most Al-Anon things I've ever heard was when Chemda told Libby that it's ok to not count her relapse. If your relapse matters to you, you count it. Otherwise you end up sniffing alcohol then shotgunning a can of coke and telling yourself it's all good and you can't even take a chip anywhere and you definitely don't have someone in recovery that you can be honest with. I've been sober for 6 years in AA with no slips and I do not have to do anything like that to not drink. I don't even think about drinking and I was a daily blackout hope to die suicidal drinker. You can recover. If there's anyone here that is trying AA or doing some sort of outpatient or talk therapy or anything like that and is taking suggestions, trying something new and participating in their recovery, even if you hate it, it works if you work at it and I wish you the best.

I rarely post on the forums but I wanted to clarify a couple of things about this.

Maybe it would have been more “Al-Anon” of her to try to convince me I should feel a certain way about it just because she does. Or perhaps Chemda knows more about my relapse than you do (person from the internet that I’ve never met) because we’ve had in-depth conversations about it that are not for public consumption.

“Otherwise you end up sniffing alcohol then shotgunning a can of coke and telling yourself it's all good and you can't even take a chip anywhere and you definitely don't have someone in recovery that you can be honest with.”

Truthfully the whole sniffing alcohol and sipping a non-alcoholic drink is mostly a joke/brilliant idea. I’ve done it before and since my relapse but it was never something I did to prevent myself from drinking, in fact when there were times that I wanted to drink I would certainly never do it. It triggered a desire to drink me one time and so I decided not to do it anymore.

I’m very comfortable with my sobriety and I choose to respect AA’s views about what they consider sober. So I don’t take a chip. I count my time sober from the first time that I quit drinking because that’s when I fully made the decision to quit, that’s when I decided to make a change in my life and that’s when I started to become a different person. Counting my time only from the relapse feels like I’m erasing all of the things I learned during those first 2+ years of not drinking.

If it makes you feel better to count my days from my relapse, go right ahead. I’m not pretending it didn’t happen.

As far as not having someone in recovery that I can be honest with, I never said that. I said that I don’t have a sponsor. Do you know that AA meetings are often all men and I’m the only woman? Do you know that that doesn’t necessarily make me feel safe?

Guess what? You don’t have all the information here.

If it sounds like I’m minimizing my relapse on the show it might be because I’m on a comedy podcast and not at an AA meeting, or it might be because self-flagellating about a mistake I made 2 years ago doesn’t actually help me stay sober. I learned some big lessons from it and I try to apply those to my life every day. I feel like I wouldn’t have that insight without the relapse.

The thought of my relapse, and being an alcoholic in general, has brought me a lot of shame. I talk about it publicly because it helps me when other people talk about their experiences. However there’s no way that you can fully know my experience from hearing me on a podcast a couple of times.

I’m glad you found a program that works for you, I have too. As we say at the end of my atheist AA meetings, live and let live.

[FingerLakes]

America is so far up its own ass to ever a law like that over anything besides the American flag.

With the vigor with which some of this country clings to the right to bear arms and all of their "freedoms," (freedoms to treat others like shit, freedom to not pay to help people they don't like) I think it would take nothing short of a war, civil or otherwise, for such a law to be passed.

[Bucho]

How much of a useless sack of shit do you have to be to whine about the way somebody laughs?

All of a useless sack of shit, that's how much.

BE FREE LIBBY, DON'T LET THE TERRORISTS WIN!!!

[LostAgain]

Am I the only one waiting for the picture labeled

"And these are all my cabinets closed."

[LostAgain]

My Father-In-Law was sober 26 years Or was it 27? when he died.

Once I believe he was on vacation and went to church with friends/family in the area. After communion, someone mentioned that they were using wine.
He did not count that as a relapse, it was an accident and not a conscious choice.

But he also would not use mouthwash or medicine that contained alcohol. He would not use rubbing alcohol. He would not eat food that was prepared with alcohol. When he was in the hospital, he had an allergy band on that said he was allergic to alcohol. So he took his sobriety very seriously.

But he would admit that there were people in the program that would still drink non-alcoholic beer. Although that was something he would NEVER do, he did not condemn them for that action.

During Birthday nights (of which my wife and I never missed one), we heard several times of people who were receiving a multi-year chip for the second, third, or more time. These were people who willingly thought, I can just have one drink.

Being an outsider who talked to people inside the program, I am not here to judge anyone. My opinion would be if you knew you were drinking alcohol, then your sobriety clock restarts. But if you take a sip of your drink and discover it has alcohol in it AND you do not continue to drink it, then perhaps your clock does not reset.

Personally I rarely drink because I do not get any positive results, I have just as much fun being goofy while completely sober. I have no problem having a few glasses of wine, a mixed drink, or maybe even a beer a few times a year. But I am just as likely to drink water in social situations.

Have a great day KATGers
Dave

[flerchin]

AA seems like such a crock of bullshit. Who gives a shit how anyone else counts your years of sobriety? Why even bother counting them? Go talk to a room full of losers about how you have a problem with alcohol? No thanks. Just stop drinking and live your fucking life.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by flerchin

AA seems like such a crock of bullshit. Who gives a shit how anyone else counts your years of sobriety? Why even bother counting them? Go talk to a room full of losers about how you have a problem with alcohol? No thanks. Just stop drinking and live your fucking life.

"YEAH!"

[kevinquinn]

Not completely on board with this but I think it deserves to be discussed. Is AA a cult?

My one "backslide" after I stopped drinking was when I went directly from an AA meeting to a riteaid & bought a fifth of vodka after getting frustrated with the negativity I was hearing there. I haven't had a drink since that day. I do feel like meetings gave me a boost at the beginning but I think that people who center their lives around not drinking are still letting alcohol control their lives, and that the language used in meetings (like "stinkin' thinkin'") only serves to keep you vulnerable to addiction.

AA might work for some personalities. It will not work for Keith. In my humble opinion.

[Skyler]

Originally Posted by Scorpion

That was a nightmare not a fun fact. #tryingtoforget #lionsfan

Sorry, I should have put a trigger warning. I was just wanting to make sure no Browns fans felt good about themselves.

Also if anyone is going 0-16 this year, it's the Jets, not the Browns. As a Lions fan I have weird mixed feelings about it. On one hand, it's our thing. On the other, it'll be nice to share that shame. Ours is sadder, because we were trying in '08.