exalky.com

Oh My God!!! I cannot believe I haven’t posted anything since September-where have I been you may well ask.
Well, I’m still sober and attending meetings, still having a challenging time financially but generally it’s all good.
Even the finances are on the up.
I run a couple of other websites which have been taking up a lot of my time lately, but I hope to be posting more here in the not too distant future….

I’ve also recently been trying to help an old friend to get sober, with limited success. Its been quite a hard lesson for me as he genuinely seems to want to stop drinking but is having a hard time of it. Maybe he’s never going to get it and I’ll just have to accept that.

I’m away from home at the moment and haven’t been to AA for a couple of weeks,  but as soon as I’m back I’ll be getting to a meeting and hopefully taking my friend with me.

If you’re in the same boat as my pal and struggling with alcohol, or any other addiction, I’ve recently read a great book that may help:

No Big Deal by John Coats – It’s probably the best book on recovery from addictions I have read – I’ll post a link to it when I get home but you can get it now from  Ye Olde Exalky’s Shoppe for around £7.99

Be well

fluke

I KNOW I really ought to post more often…..

I’ve been more than a bit wrapped up in the trials of life in general lately-but I’m still sober and grateful to be so

I should have more time to post some stuff here in the near future, in the meantime here’s a thought from Abraham:

“A happy life is just a string of happy moments. But most people don’t allow the happy moment, because they’re so busy trying to get a happy life.”

Be well

fluke

Hi again,

Recently I was lucky enough to celebrate my third year without a drink. I’m visiting  the Czech Republic and managed to get to a meeting for my big day – even managed to share in my broken “survivors guide” Czech !!

But I have to remember that it really is One day at a time, and while I’m getting all smug about my sobriety, my alcoholism is out in the car park doing push-ups and getting ready to kick my head in.

I got here by listening to, and following some of, the suggestions made to me by various members of AA, and those in it’s literature. I have no doubt whatsoever that without this help I would be either dead or under lock and key.

Instead I have my sobriety, my spirituality, my family and a good life-not without problems, but I am able to deal with them.

Thank You  Alcoholics Anonymous

I know what you’re thinking. Surely I can use this law of attraction stuff to make some money, and you’d be right.
Maybe some of you are thinking you can use the law of attraction and EFT to “cure” your alcoholism, and again you’d be right.
All things are possible.
Whoah! hold on just a second there, you’d have to be pretty sure you could create money before you quit your job right?
So why risk something as valuable as your sobriety unless you are absolutely certain of success?
Stinkin’ Thinkin’ again I’m affraid-how would you test if you had cured your alcholism-by having a drink?
What does a cured alcoholic do-does he now drink like a gentleman?
The purpose of this blog is to offer ideas and means to spiritual progress to fellow alcoholics and addicts, not to purport some kind of quick fix alternative to AA.
Without AA I would either be drunk or dead and this blog would not exist.
If you’re new to recovery or still struggling, get to as many meetings as you can.
By the time you have become proficient enough in the law of attraction and EFT to really be able to use it to drink like a gentleman, I suspect the desire to do so will have long since passed.
But what about money?

Well, don’t quit your job just yet, but why not have a go at attracting some moolah! It won’t do you any harm. I’ll post some interesting stuff about the Law of Attraction and money in the near future…..

Be Well,

fluke

Hi again,

seems the time between my posts is averaging out at about once a month (note to self-post more!)

Summer needn’t be a testing time for recovering alcoholics/addicts. Sure there’s the never ending slew of barbecues and family gatherings where everyone else is getting quietly (or Loudly!) merry and sunburnt, but this dosen’t mean we have to suffer.

I’ve just come back from a wonderful long weekend at Disneyland Paris with my wife and daughter and my wife’s parents. While it would not be fair to say they spent the whole time drinking, they did consume a fair amount, especially in the evenings. At one point my father in law asked me, “dosen’t it make you crazy watching all of us drinking?”

My answer was truthful and simple. “No it dosen’t, maybe in the early days of my recovery I felt uncomfortable around other people drinking, but not anymore.”

I have learned a coping strategy for these kinds of situations, whether it be a visit to a pub for a special occasion or for dinner, or family gatherings or any situation where alcohol (or drugs for that matter) will be a feature.

The first and most important part of my strategy is “ALWAYS take your parachute”

What I mean by this is always prepare an exit for yourself before you set out. For example, if you’re going out to dinner with family or friends, offer to drive them, thus providing yourself with an excellent reason why you’re not drinking (assuming they don’t already know why ).

It’s a good idea to take your car anyway, as if you do feel uneasy, you can make a fairly quick escape and maybe return to pick them up later. In fact I have done just that quite a few times.

But what if you don’t drive or  have a car?

Parachutes of our kind come in all shapes and sizes-take your phone, or just the number of your sponsor or closest AA friend.

The second part of my strategy is this: If you feel uncomfortable – LEAVE.

If your family or friends don’t understand this and find it strange/rude/whatever, that is THEIR problem, not yours-your responsibility is do do whatever it takes to stay sober, you can explain to them if you want to, but it’s not a requirement.

We visit my wife’s parents for about two weeks at a time -usually a couple of times a year. They live in quite an isolated area so a lot of drinking goes on at their home and I have little chance of getting to a meeting while we are there.

On the rare occasions that I do feel uncomfortable around them drinking ( usually when they’ve been at it for a while), I can’t just pack up and leave, but I can go for a walk or even just go to a different room and read for half an hour or so. This usually does the trick, but if not, then a call to my sponsor or a close AA friend is the answer.

Friends and Family who know about your alcoholism may not understand it, but will usually be supportive and understand if you don’t want to attend a particular event. If they don’t, and give you a hard time about it, maybe it’s time to ask if they’re really such a good friend after all.

Anyway here’s a pic from my Disney visit – I can remind myself to stay sober Anywhere…

(oops! I’ll upload the pic later today…)

Be Well

Fluke ;-D