Sobriety

Recovery doesn’t just happen because one stops drinking and using drugs; especially in the beginning, it takes diligent hard work and sacrifice. I think this may be the hardest lesson we have to learn as alcoholics and addicts new to sobriety, that even though now sober we continue to think function, and make decisions with a "diseased" brain. Quitting is the easy part, it’s staying sober that is the real trick.

Those in AA say to change people, places, and things. A therapist might say it also requires cognitive behavioral training. A pastor might say that it takes faith and finding one's spirituality. And they would all be right. One has to proactively work a recovery program, consciously setting aside time and resources not only to stay clean and sober, but to maintain a healthy and progressive mindset.

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We have to develop a set of tools and routines to achieve sobriety. These tools help us learn about ourselves and the routines assist us in staying productive (and out of trouble). But we shouldn’t stop there, these methods we develop during our recovery can be used for so much more.

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Survey says... DUH! ”

"In a study of 2,750 men and women, researchers at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis found that the sexes showed some key differences in symptoms of problem drinking. For example, men more often reported problems like bingeing or getting into fights, but women were more likely to report feeling depressed or guilty about their drinking. ~ CNN.com Health”

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When this video was forwarded to me by a frequent visitor of this site, I thought from the title it was going to be funny. I mean, come on now, a YouTube video titled "Drunk Monkeys" has high potential for hilarity. Leave it to a cynical and introspective alcoholic like myself however to frame this video in a less than jocular fashion.

I guess it was the narrator describing how the island monkeys raided the local bars that made me twinge with an internal wince, "they have learned to be sneaky". It was from this point on that I viewed the monkeys in this video as if they were just actors on the set of “My Life”. The sneakiness, the bump and run, and the falling down drunk: Act I. Act II, and Act III of my life story that was always followed by an encore.

Paging Dr. Killjoy… well here’s your video anyway. Enjoy it, if you can.

That's right, time for a little honesty out their my fellow alcoholics and addicts. I have been participating in some discussions with a few of my brethren in an effort to produce some anecdotes that would help explain the power of addictions to those not afflicted. One of these has already been the subject of a blog here (But I'm a Good Parent), and it generated a few spirited discussions at the meeting hall. The subject of this one will be just as painful to reflect on, but if we are to better explain addictions to others we must explore and revisit our past actions together in recovery.

I wanted bad things to happen. I wanted tragedy, death, and misery; if it didn't happen on its own, I would often cause it myself.

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If I have heard it once, I have heard it a thousand times. “At night I have trouble turning off my thoughts” or “when I try to go to bed my mind just starts racing” are just a few renditions of this standard complaint for alcoholics and addicts”

I know I said it a million times myself. I thought I was crazy... no, actually I WANTED people to think I was crazy. I remember I used to joke with an old girlfriend about why every night I would drink myself into a stupor. I would say it was to slow down the racing thoughts, until the old TV sign-off screen was the only thing left in my mind and I could drift off to a fitful sleep.

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In June of 1794, over 1000 Indians attacked a small fort in the Northwest Territory (now Ohio) engaging less than 300 Americans led by General “Mad” Anthony Wayne. Their point of defense was a makeshift defensive structure named Fort Recovery. It was built over the same ground where a few years earlier over 700 American soldiers had died in what could easily be described as a massacre. This time however, the wooden timbers of their ad-hoc wilderness fortress provided a place of safety in which the soldiers could rely upon their training and mutual support to repel the enemy marauders; Fort Recovery held and became a turning point in history described by some as the opening of the West.

I have my own Fort Recovery, and it's called a routine. General Wayne, considered an early adopter of “basic training”, drilled his troops so they would react in a proper manner in the heat of battle while protected by the walls of Fort Recovery. In a similar sense, my routines provide a defensive structure of normalcy that serve as a shield and grounding influence when life events get messy.

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Everyone needs to laugh, so count this post as a humor in recovery posting. Yeah I know it’s a stretch, but I had to put this on so thanks Cute Overload.

I was going to post some fairly serious content tonight but got sidetracked doing some podcasting experimentation with my new Alesis Multimix8 USB and Behringer C-1 microphone. Nope, not going to talk about my new toys either; it’s the music I had playing in the background that has peaked my interest tonight. My wife is out of the country for a few weeks so I have been cranking up the tunes like a bachelor. Most of my solitary nights, I just put it on one of the cable music channels and let it play until lights out. I have gone through the 70’s, 80’s, classic rock, classic country, cool jazz, light classical, and even sampled opera and bluegrass for a while. Yeah I know, that kind of play mix just might cause dizziness, seizures, and possible rectal leakage but I have survived. Tonight though I got off my lazy duff and dug through my old CD’s to play some old tunes I haven’t heard in ages. One in particular sparked my interest in particular, K. D. Lang’s Drag because I remember when I bought it I said to myself, “self, this is the ultimate recovery CD/album”.

Click here for a sample track courtesy of Amazon.com

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”In almost all cases, family members report significant reductions in depression and anxiety.”

I couldn't resist using the movie poster, but the CRAFT I am talking about has nothing to do with witchcraft or the movie. In fact I should be using the intro for HBO, because this is a review of another one of their supplemental series on addiction called Getting an Addict into Treatment: The CRAFT Approach. CRAFT stands for community reinforcement and family training. It was developed by Dr. Robert Meyers, a professor in psychology, after he grew up watching his father's alcoholism eventually kill his mother at forty-five. I had never heard of the CRAFT approach and was at first skeptical of its value, but after watching the episode I had a change of heart.

I have linked to the show through it's title above, so please watch it yourself and then click "Read More" to see my review...