Today, July 18, 2007, is my birthday.

My sobriety birthday.

I’m 3 years old today in sober years. My wife might say in emotional years, but that’s another article… :)

It would be absolutely impossible to list all of the people and organizations that helped me get here. The principles of Alcoholics Anonymous, as well as a bunch of great people (Dave, Jim, and Jay especially) who taught me that it’s possible and showed me how to do it… I literally owe my life to those guys. After moving to California, I’ve had a tough time integrating into the meetings, but the principles have stuck with me, and kept me going. I also use the principles of SMART Recovery and Rational Recovery… if you have a tough time with the spirituality of AA, one of those options may be for you. Or you can do what I’ve done, and take what works from each of them, and never mind what doesn’t. Even those who say that their way is the only way – smile, nod, and realize they may be well meaning, but are deluded.

Much, if not all, of my drinking came from an attempt to self-medicate my depression. When I was able to accept the depression and get help for it through medication, the need for the alcohol dropped like a rock. Medication is not a cure, at least not yet… it’s a control. It relieves the symptoms so that the problems can be worked on. Simply popping a pill will only help for as long as the chemicals from the pill are in your system. While the symptoms are lessened, we have to change our habitual thinking in order to make the changes as permanent as possible.

And of course… my friends in the blogosphere. Once again, impossible to list everyone who has helped, so sorry… no links in this post. I think you know who you are, and even if you don’t – thank you.

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