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Post by Sam on Oct 8, 2015 14:57:22 GMT -5
Hahaha, you're exempt Joey.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2015 16:27:04 GMT -5
Me uppity, no way....I am a down to earth Joe six-pack, but I know you were kidding:) What I actually wrote was c - o - c - k - y, but it came out ####y. LOL! And you know I love you, Sam. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2015 16:28:39 GMT -5
You're better than a "regular" ... you're one of the OLD-TIMERs. That there's the best status ever! Sam's one too but don't tell him, he's been really uppity lately and this will add to it.  still the editor i see "Dammit, JoeY, I'm a writer, not an editor!" |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2015 17:40:59 GMT -5
Hey Sam,
Love your sense of humour. Always gives me a laugh.
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Post by Sam on Oct 8, 2015 18:23:10 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2015 18:34:07 GMT -5
Wow Sam. Really intense eyes on those monkeys.
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Post by Sam on Oct 8, 2015 18:36:44 GMT -5
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Post by Sam on Oct 8, 2015 18:38:36 GMT -5
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Post by JoeY on Oct 9, 2015 5:49:38 GMT -5
some of eyes look at me and say "yum yum eat em up"
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Post by JoeY on Oct 9, 2015 5:52:48 GMT -5
"Dammit, JoeY, I'm a writer, not an editor!" Oops now i feel bad i surely didn't meant to insult you. i think the work you do is wonderful and i know from your post that it's very rewarding personally for you. let me know when/where/how to pick up a copy of the AF book. |
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Post by JoeY on Oct 9, 2015 5:53:27 GMT -5
Check out these magnificent animals portraits a photographer took that I don't know his name, otherwise I would have given credit. Click on each photo to enlarge. Look into their eyes and you'll peak into their souls, and they'll see yours as well. nothing happens when i click on your pic |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2015 7:23:13 GMT -5
"Dammit, JoeY, I'm a writer, not an editor!" Oops now i feel bad i surely didn't meant to insult you. i think the work you do is wonderful and i know from your post that it's very rewarding personally for you. let me know when/where/how to pick up a copy of the AF book. You didn't insult me! Hopefully your comment was tongue-in-cheek, and you got that I was channeling Star Trek. |
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Post by yvan on Oct 10, 2015 5:19:25 GMT -5
Hi everyone.
I just spent some time trying to catch up, the forum looks weird to me.
You seem to be very well Kim, that's great. You too Sam, and you Jenn and PJ and all. Where's tutu? Hope everyone is happy and must be busy with their lives.
Anyway, I'll be two years sober soon, just a week before Christmas. What can I say, two years of good and not so good times, PAWS as well that were tough to live with sometimes but I knew and hoped and expected that with time they would fade away, and they did.
Recovery takes time, no doubt, but it's wonderful to get used to a sober life and then, bingo, alcohol finally belongs to another time. I am happy, feeling wonderful, the efforts were not in vain and slowly we get the reward, a better life, that's what it's about, otherwise where's the point in the shti goes on. Lol.
There's not much I can say now to others who want to stop the suffering that alcohol brings to ourselves and to others around us if we are unable to drink with moderation. Alcohol for us alcoholics is poison, it brings destruction, suffering and eventually it kills us at the end. Not other choice than stop drinking and expect difficult times ahead. Look for help and learn about alcoholism. Don't wait for some kind of miracles and that everything will be great tomorrow. That's only in movies and fairytales. It's about determination, patience, learning and time. It was for me as it was for others.
I have close friends who still drink. I used to spend a lot of time trying helping them, I was always worried but it's like talking to walls. I suppose like for many others there comes the time you want or need a break from the alcohol stuff and live your life.
I know in my heart that I will never be able to drink again. Alcohol was my enemy, a lethal poison. One drink and I would start to destroy my body, my spirit and my life. End of the story. This madness is over. I love my life, I deserve my happiness now because I fought the hardest, I managed to say a definitive farewell to alcohol. I have learnt a lot during those nearly two years, about myself and about others too. I am very aware of people who can bring negativity into my life. Their drinking is one of it. I know what I want and what I don't want.
Sobriety brought me freedom, that's the most beautiful present I cherish. It's not a wish anymore, it's a constant reality. I was happy to become sober and to remain sober, now I am happy. It still feels weird sometimes, I suppose living with alcohol and problems related to it becomes a normal thing, kind of fatality and happiness is for the others.
I wish my friends could understand that it is an inside job and no one else will do it for them. It's sad to see them struggling, going nowhere and losing everything. They still don't get it or don't believe they can be in a better place, maybe that's the problem. They don't believe.
There is one thing that I needed most in all this, time. Time heals, maybe not everything, but it has brought me peace, peace of mind and peace in my life. I needed this peace before everything else because it makes everything again possible. I wasn't looking for the impossible, just the normal. Why didn't I do it years and years ago? Not ready yet and I loved my drink. Never mind, we learn, we grow and that's life.
When I look back, I can only remember the despair and the disillusions. It was always dark, there was nothing in this darkness to leave the light go through. I would prefer now to be dead than going back to this nightmare. I have no regrets, my alcoholism has changed me. It has made me more humble and more grateful about everything I have today. From shame, guilt, remorses and many ifs, I am just happy of who I am today. No one except other alcoholics can understand that it is a long and difficult journey to become free from our addiction and from the past.
My greatest happiness is when I can give and love. There's so much to give if we want to but when I drank as I used to, I just had the energy to look after myself, or I couldn't be bother. I didn't look good very often and when I looked good, not very often, I was ill inside, very ill, always ill. Now I cycle going to work, I go to gym and I still do my running with the cows, lot of energy, just trying giving up smoking, I am struggling, I love my cigarette with my coffee, after lunch, after dinner, after bed, before bed and in between. I am not ready, I know it, I won't get mad about it, like it was for the alcohol, it will happen when the time is right.
Anyway, we are having an Indian summer here in the UK, it's wonderful. We're in October, Christmas decorations have started in shops, can't believe, money, money! I will spend my time off this weekend with nature. Peace and beauty and it's free.
Sending my love to all and wish you all to be well and happy.
Hugsssss.
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Post by gwampa69 on Oct 10, 2015 7:41:11 GMT -5
Yvan
It's morning here in Michigan and I have to say, that was a wonderful thing to read to start my day. There is a lot that can be taken away from what you just wrote. You sum up the whole package better than anyone I've ever read before.
So you are still running with the cows! And cycling to work. How's the job going? How's your boat? Is it still around or did it finally set sail?
So many questions. That just because I've missed you around the forum. This place does seem a bit weird at first. Just because it's laid out differently than the old place I suppose. It will become the new normal just like everything else in life, if we give it a chance.
Thanks for checking in Yvan.
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Post by JoeY on Oct 10, 2015 8:21:03 GMT -5
Hi yvan,
i remember from the old forum but you were just coming in while i was making my exit from it. so glad to see that the last two years have been positive ones as i'm sure that's not been the case with others i have no seen for a while.
ok gotta say it...the smokes gotta go yvan there is never a good time to quit. JMHO
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