37 Years Clean & Sober! 5-16-18

[45tex]

You are a great hero. Proof to the world that sober works. And thanks for whom you give the credit.

 

[texasnurse]

Today is a big day for me! On May 16, 1981, I used my last alcohol and other substance. 37 years clean and sober! It has not been easy, but the 12 step programs worked for me. Never "slipped" and the desire to do those things and live the life that goes with them were lifted off of my back.

The Higher Power did it all. I didn't have enough sense to do it alone and I'm very grateful! God willing, I'll make another year...........One day at a time!

Flash

A toast to you sir...

Sent from my iPhone with a general disregard for the masses

P.S. It’s Apple Juice

 

[easy rider]

I'm sure, like me, Roger doesn't begrudge people their spirits. I now enjoy the fact that I can be around others drinking alcohol and not be tempted.

 

[Chirpy]

Congrats!

 

[Charlie]

Good for you Easy Rider!

 

[TxStetson]

I'm sure, like me, Roger doesn't begrudge people their spirits. I now enjoy the fact that I can be around others drinking alcohol and not be tempted.

So you’ll always be the designated driver?

 

[easy rider]

So you’ll always be the designated driver?

LOL, of course!

 

[F350-6]

I don't mean to take away from a great anniversary, and congrats, but I'm also interested in the air fryer thing.

Will there be a new cooking thread about that?

 

[Charlie]

I don't mean to take away from a great anniversary, and congrats, but I'm also interested in the air fryer thing.

Will there be a new cooking thread about that?

Start one!

 

[ROGER4314]

I'm sure, like me, Roger doesn't begrudge people their spirits. I now enjoy the fact that I can be around others drinking alcohol and not be tempted.

That's true, but while I was attending the drunken parties next door, I was very careful. I kept a cup of water to sip on and wouldn't let it leave my sight. If I did leave it unattended, it got dumped and refilled. That applies the old saying:

Two things I can't stand:
A drunk when I'm sober...
and a sober when I'm drunk!

The drunks can't stand to see you sober!

AIR FRYER
It worked great, but Bonnie didn't feel well so we had limited experimentation.

The chicken wings came out splendidly! We used two types of Shake & Bake coating. The wings were cut up at the joints and just the 1" tip of the wing was cut off. They refer to those parts as "flats" and "drummies." Some recipes say to remove the whole tip segment. I see no reason to waste that.

Cooking time was 20 minutes and we flipped the pieces about 1/2 way through.

The wings were delicious and we ate like pigs! We used no sauce and ate the wings just as they came out of the cooker. There were only about 5 pieces, left! There was only four pounds of wings. I reported 5 pounds earlier.

The next effort will be with uncoated wings, removed and coated with BBQ sauce after cooking.

The first load was with 7 wing parts. They were crispy. The second load was 15 wing parts and I liked those better as they were easier to chew.

Cleanup was very easy. Paper towels did the trick. The cage and holder can be washed in the sink.

In all, I like the product but want to try the tots, fries and onion rings. Our first attempt on OR's took about 5 minutes a week or so ago. I want to try chicken legs, too.

That's it for now.

Flash

 

[Wildcat Diva]

I’m happy for you and thank you for sharing this most excellent milestone. I’m glad your life has been a sober one for so long and you have reaped the benefits of sobriety and since avoided the many tragedies and misery that comes with alcoholism. You seem very blessed. What an encouraging thread!

 

[40Arpent]

Flash, sincerest congratulations on another 525,600 minutes of "clean and sober." You are an inspiration to us all!

Relative to the air fryer, do you still use your Puck on a regular basis?

 

[atticus finch]

I'm confused how "resolve" has very little to do with it?

I can understand yours and charlies response, both are based on a misguided, albeit understandable, point of view.
This is not to say ignorance, which is properly defined as contempt prior to investigation (of the facts), misguided via a lack of understanding towards a proper point of view.
The reason 'resolve' and / or 'stamina' have very little to do with sobriety is both of those things are elements of normal human free will, or more importantly an individuals ability to make a choice.
Yourselves are viewing this via the lense of a properly functioning free will, wherein an individual has the ability to make choice.
An alcoholic has no such ability, the ability to make a choice has been essentially lost somewhere along the line, hence the repeated return to drinking despite the damage it does.
An ordinary person would think "this has to stop" and act (choose or resolve) accordingly. They would 'resolve' to stop their destructive behavior and have the willpower (stamina) to do so.
An alcoholic has no such ability anymore, they have lost that and no human power can restore it.
It is specifically called out in the first 3 steps of sobriety, they are powerless over alcohol, believe that a power greater than themselves can restore them to sanity (the normal ability or resolve to make a choice in the face of destructive behavior) and an appeal to that power greater than themselves to attain such restoration of sanity.
Now, once those three things have transpired, and only when those things have transpired, something akin to normal human abilities are 'restored' to an individual alcholic.
It is not always an overnight process, such as happens with a vital spiritual phenomenon.
Many times it is a long slow process, partly to overcome those very elements charlie mentioned which have been subject to the corrosive effects of alcoholism, and now have been warped into a real defect within that persons character.
A good example of this would be the very mentioned 'stamina' in a normal person, this function of free will gives an individual the ability to persevere towards a proper goal.
In the case of an alcoholic, it is warped into an ability to continually engage in self-destructive behavior and withstand it despite how irrational such behavior is.
A simple saying describes it well: a normal person who is in the gutter will claw thier way out, an alcoholic when reaching the gutter will bring his favorite chair with him....

It is why the original poster directly attributes his sobriety to a power greater than himself, rather than relying on his own self-will.
he recognizes the truths of his own self-will and what it will do and has done.

This is a simplification to the point of inaccuracy however it is as short as I can make it & reasonably accurate, it would take entire books to cover just this one aspect of this subject.

Does this make sense to yourselves?

 

[Charlie]

I understand what you're saying, I just don't agree with most of what you said.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

I know people that have quit smoking cold turkey with no outside help.

I know people that have quit drugs with no outside help.

I figure it was their resolve that aided in that, no?

 

[karlac]

I know people that have quit smoking cold turkey with no outside help.
I know people that have quit drugs with no outside help.
I figure it was their resolve that aided in that, no?

Yep. Looking down a gun barrel, or faced with certain and imminent death, amazing how "resolve" magically reappears. Anything else arguably has a large component of BS looking to justify bad behavior ...

 

[easy rider]

Yes, you do have to have resolve, a want to quit. The powerless over alcohol is when an alcoholic drinks. Like myself, and many others, I relapsed. I felt I had the power over alcohol, I fell into the "I can drink just one and stop" which led to "one more won't hurt" and so on, and that proved to me that I was powerless, but it wasn't that that really gave me the resolve, it was the look on my family's faces, the shame. Everyone is different in their resolve to quit, but until you can admit to yourself that you are an alcoholic you will never find that resolve to quit drinking.

 

[karlac]

.... < snip>, it was the look on my family's faces, the shame. Everyone is different in their resolve to quit, but until you can admit to yourself that you are an alcoholic you will never find that resolve to quit drinking.

Being an alcoholic is hell on earth, I can attest that living with one is far worse.

While my personal sympathy for such self inflicted behavior is in short supply, my admiration for those who recognize and overcome it, and save everyone around them an arguably worse fate, knows no bounds.

Like Flash, heartiest congratulations on being one of those.

 

[FireInTheWire]

I can understand yours and charlies response, both are based on a misguided, albeit understandable, point of view.
This is not to say ignorance, which is properly defined as contempt prior to investigation (of the facts), misguided via a lack of understanding towards a proper point of view.
The reason 'resolve' and / or 'stamina' have very little to do with sobriety is both of those things are elements of normal human free will, or more importantly an individuals ability to make a choice.
Yourselves are viewing this via the lense of a properly functioning free will, wherein an individual has the ability to make choice.
An alcoholic has no such ability, the ability to make a choice has been essentially lost somewhere along the line, hence the repeated return to drinking despite the damage it does.
An ordinary person would think "this has to stop" and act (choose or resolve) accordingly. They would 'resolve' to stop their destructive behavior and have the willpower (stamina) to do so.
An alcoholic has no such ability anymore, they have lost that and no human power can restore it.
It is specifically called out in the first 3 steps of sobriety, they are powerless over alcohol, believe that a power greater than themselves can restore them to sanity (the normal ability or resolve to make a choice in the face of destructive behavior) and an appeal to that power greater than themselves to attain such restoration of sanity.
Now, once those three things have transpired, and only when those things have transpired, something akin to normal human abilities are 'restored' to an individual alcholic.
It is not always an overnight process, such as happens with a vital spiritual phenomenon.
Many times it is a long slow process, partly to overcome those very elements charlie mentioned which have been subject to the corrosive effects of alcoholism, and now have been warped into a real defect within that persons character.
A good example of this would be the very mentioned 'stamina' in a normal person, this function of free will gives an individual the ability to persevere towards a proper goal.
In the case of an alcoholic, it is warped into an ability to continually engage in self-destructive behavior and withstand it despite how irrational such behavior is.
A simple saying describes it well: a normal person who is in the gutter will claw thier way out, an alcoholic when reaching the gutter will bring his favorite chair with him....

It is why the original poster directly attributes his sobriety to a power greater than himself, rather than relying on his own self-will.
he recognizes the truths of his own self-will and what it will do and has done.

This is a simplification to the point of inaccuracy however it is as short as I can make it & reasonably accurate, it would take entire books to cover just this one aspect of this subject.

Does this make sense to yourselves?

Your hitting the nail on the head.

 

[FireInTheWire]

I know people that have quit smoking cold turkey with no outside help.

I know people that have quit drugs with no outside help.

I figure it was their resolve that aided in that, no?

I don't think the subject is black and white. There is a lot of gray... I think its different on each individual and how bad the substance has them by the huevos. I watched my brother go through with it. He tried cold turkey (his resolve). He flipped out. The night he broke down, he told me he couldn't breath. He was hearing voices in his head. There we're people outside his house trying to get inside and kill him. He said there were little girls riding tricycles around his house and they were laughing and the squeaking of their wheels were blasting in his ear... He was hallucinating & he thought he was having a heart attack.

Alcohol RULED his life. He HAD to have it to function. On an everyday basis. There had to be an percentage in his bloodstream to be normal 24/7. He was powerless to it.

I believe he is with us and sober today because of
1) spiritual intervention
2) him admitting he was an alcoholic
3) medical help
4) support group

But I can tell ya this. He received a massive amount of resolve after he sat in prison for 6months. He told me "I don't care what happens... I will never step foot in that place again".