It works if you work it. [Archive] - RonFez.net Messageboard

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Yerdaddy

11-20-2006, 03:15 AM

Keep it simple, stupid. (K.I.S.S.)One day at a time.Change is a process, not an event.God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.I've got ten years sober today. I went for a swim in the Red Sea this morning. Had a nice lunch. Now I'll go back in the water, have a workout, chill out with dinner and whatever crap movie is showing, then, if I feel like it, I'll climb Mt. Sinai in the middle of the night and watch the sunrise from St. Katherine's Monistary. It's a good day so far and I owe it to the group of junkies, addicts, ex-cons, and alcoholics that got me through my first year of recovery. If not for them and their incredible wisdom and compassion, instead of being here in this weird life I live now, I'd be dead. Them and all of the others just like them who came before and collected the kind of wisdom that can make an addict sober - if he/she wants it and works for it - just through sharing words. Of everything I've seen in my life, the most incredible thing I've ever seen is that room full of hand-me-down furniture and commerical coffee pots in a poor suburb of San Fransisco, where people come to change their lives by helping others change theirs. On my first day the people looked, on the outside, like the most down-and-out people I'd known: they wore hand-me-down clothes, they drove beat-up hoopties, they bore the scars of addiction - track mark scars on their arms, pock mark scars from crystal meth hallucinations, drawn -in faces - but there was life in their eyes and their manners that didn't fit the stereotype lenses I was seeing them through. What I was only suspecting, suspiciously, was that these were people with an inner peace, wisdom, and dignity that can only be found in someone who knows he or she is walking on a path that is going somewhere real. It's the kind of thing you can't buy with all the money in the world. You can't be born with it, or be given it as a gift. What I learned in those first few weeks is that these were people who had been as desperate and scared as I was and had found what they had been looking for: hope. And, over the next few weeks, I came to see the other people in the rooms in a different light. They became the Donald Trumps, the Barry Bonds', the Oprah Winfreys of the real world; they came to embody, for me, the concept of a successful life. If someone started a thread asking who you think the most successful person you know of is, the first face that would pop into my mind would be "Charlie Brown's". Charlie ran meetings at the recovery center. He was a crack addict in Oakland for decades - he would say, "I'd smoke crack with gorillas in the zoo if they had it!" He had about every other tooth left. He looked like he should be standing in front of a judge. But he was the smartest guy I've ever met. He was the guy who called me on my bullshit when I was rationalizing my disease like I do with everything else in my life. I was talking in a meeting once early on about  how I didn't have the horror stories that could compare to everyone else's. And I worried that I would forget my stories over time and lose the fear that they put in me, which is what brought me to the meetings in the first place. I was worried about that making me more likely to relapse in the future. Charlie just pointed and said "There's the door. You can go out and get ya some more stories if that's what you want. Or you can stay here and stay sober. That's your choice, today, tomorrow, and every day after. The point is that you have to MAKE that choice: get your stories, or get your life. Choice is yours." And my fear was replaced by a simple choice. And the choice was easy to make. Charlie saved my life that day and many days after. Smartest guy I've ever met.I don't believe in shit. Not god, heaven, angels, ghosts, z

cupcakelove

11-20-2006, 03:37 AM

Glad you made the right choice.  Congratualtions on 10 years.

Alice S. Fuzzybutt

11-20-2006, 03:40 AM

CONGRATS AARON!!!

Don Stugots

11-20-2006, 03:53 AM

nice work.  keep it up.

A.J.

11-20-2006, 04:50 AM

Congrats habibi.

angelinad128

11-20-2006, 05:24 AM

Congratulations on 10 years! Everyday is a new day that your making the right choice! Keep it up!!!

FUNKMAN

11-20-2006, 05:27 AM

great story,very inspirational!thanks for sharing and continued success! atini boce   <img src="/messageboard/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-laughing.gif" border="0" alt="Laughing" title="Laughing" width="18" height="18" />

jsmigley

11-20-2006, 05:47 AM

Congratulations on 10 years sober. Your message is inspirational to anyone going through any kind of adversity or addiction.

Aggie

11-20-2006, 06:52 AM

That's a wonderful accomplishment. Living life one day at a time, one choice at a time is how everyone should think. It's amazing how different the paths of people's lives are, congrats again. And I'd call them angels too. If they could only see you now!

This message was edited by Aggie on 11-20-06 @ 10:53 AM

Dougie Brootal

11-20-2006, 06:56 AM

congrats bro, im at 10 days today and im trying for a year at least. i hope i have your willpower.

JustJon

11-20-2006, 07:02 AM

Congrats on 10 years, and good luck on another 10.And for the record, I don't believe in ESD either.

reeshy

11-20-2006, 12:59 PM

Congrats, Daddy....but you gave up one addiction for another......those fucking man dresses!!!!!!

lleeder

11-20-2006, 01:17 PM

Nice work keep it up another 10

Tall_James

11-20-2006, 01:18 PM

What do you mean you don't believe in zombies?!?!  It's that sort of laissez-faire attitude that will doom us once the zombies, then robots take over our world.Congratulations on your anniversary.  Its a tough road and it takes a real man to traverse it.

ChimneyFish

11-20-2006, 01:19 PM

Conratulations, budday.While I'm not sober, I'm about 5 years off of heroin.In a weird occurence, I saw the guy I started getting high with the other day. He just started getting high again, and(suprising the shit out of me) I didn't feel any need to do it again, even though that would have been a great excuse.I know it won't be over until I'm dead, but I felt good about myself that day.

MadMatt

11-20-2006, 01:27 PM

Good for you, and thank you for sharing your story.  I have gone through a different kind of recovery, but have had similar inspirations.  Congratulations on your 10 Year Anniversary!  May you have many, many more Budday!<img src="/messageboard/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-laughing.gif" border="0" alt="Laughing" title="Laughing" width="18" height="18" />

This message was edited by MadMatt on 11-20-06 @ 5:27 PM

Gvac

11-20-2006, 03:08 PM

Beautiful words and sentiments, Yerdaddy.Congratulations on making it this far and I wish you continued success for all your days.

Bulldogcakes

11-20-2006, 04:47 PM

Now he's just addicted to crack. <img src="https://my.estoresnw.com/kap/ProductImages/c-butt-crack-art.jpg" border="0" />  Seriously, congrats man. Glad to hear it.

Kevin

11-20-2006, 04:53 PM

I am a little glad and a little disappointed  that this topic is not the topic that i thought it was........          Seriously though, great job Budday!

Bulldogcakes

11-20-2006, 05:19 PM

Boy, I really know how you feel. I eat one potato chip and DAMN if I dont eat the whole bag!

mdr55

11-20-2006, 05:26 PM

Congrats man.