HEY ! Catharsis in AA

[jeffw]

Well now,
Hi, Everyone, look,

..."Here is a case in point: One of our friends is a heavy
smoker and coffee drinker. There was no doubt he overindulged.
Seeing this, and meaning to be helpful, his wife
commenced to admonish him about it. He admitted he
was overdoing these things, but frankly said that he was
not ready to stop. His wife is one of those persons who
really feels there is something rather sinful about these
commodities, so she nagged, and her intolerance finally
threw him into a fit of anger. He got drunk.
Of course our friend was wrong?dead wrong. He had
to painfully admit that and mend his spiritual fences.
Though he is now a most effective member of Alcoholics
Anonymous, he still smokes and drinks coffee, but neither
his wife nor anyone else stands in judgment. She
sees she was wrong to make a burning issue out of such a
matter when his more serious ailments were being rapidly
cured.
We have three little mottoes which are apropos. Here
they are:
First Things First
Live and Let Live
Easy Does It." .......................quoth:BB/pp135/THE FAMILY AFTERWARD

Today I have 242 days of cigarettelessness having chainsmoked a great deal of
my sobriety in solitary observance of the page.[135] I resented emphysema and being on oxygen a long time
but, remarkably doing better...
TAKE HOPE IN IT.../..WHAT DO YOU THINK...? :)

[angussdundee]

Hello Jeff, It's good to see you're cheerful slant on life again... :D Very well done regards booting out the dreaded weed a day at a time. The obsession to drink alcohol was removed from me over 15 years ago but I still continued to smoke cigarettes and home grown pot for a couple of months untill I had it out with my sponsor at that time, and we both agreed that the cigarett's might eventualy kill me but the pot would eventualy but surely lead me to a drink. So I decided that both must go we had a little ceremony to get rid of my cigarett's, rolling papers, zippo lighter, ashtrays, bongs, hooka pipes, maps of interesting places to visit in Marakesh Morrocco etc.
But the obsession to smoke was not, as you will know, lifted suddenly or as profoundly as my alcohol was and I was fit to kill anything that moved across my line of vision for a good while but it did gradualy lift and I eventualy started to feel the benefits before too long.
I'm very glad to be free from the those addictions today, although I'm still as crazy as a loon at times... ;)

Thanks for the reminder Jeff and God bless you.

Anguss.

[samf]

Jeff, congratulations!! Great job! Both you and Anguss are an encouragement to me!

I have 257 days smoke free, today...smoked for 40 years, including cheats...been trying to quit for the last ten...this is the most I have gotten. I just kept trying when I'd blow it.

Neat to see someone else doing the same thing!

P.S. I don't believe for me, at the time, it would have been a good thing for me to do (try to stop smoking), in my early sobriety, as I was so afraid it would lead me to drink, somehow. Also, did not have a real desire to stop, for a long time.

Samf

[alfee]

Congratulations on all your accomplishments, and i hope all your days are wonderful... as for me, i have been clean and sober for 1215 days... i stopped drinking and taking opiates and all other mind altering drugs the day the judge and the jury sent me to prison for 33 months... i got out 40 weeks ago, on halloween of last year, and haven't had a desire to drink or drug... that has nothing to do with anything i did, but what my Higher Power did for me... but i still smoke cigarettes, and have no plans on quitting anytime soon... in fact, i just put one out... have a good day.

[angussdundee]

I remember listening to my doctor at that time, telling me how a lot of the body's damage effects from alcohol and substance abuse including cigaretts can often reverse over time depending on how soon we stop using. But sometimes damage to the lungs lingers on in the form of breathlesness or even obstructive lung disease (COPD) just try blowing out a stuborn candle :D I helped my Grandaughter to blow up some balloons the other week and I was staggering around in circles with my eyes crossed gasping for breath :o,

Don't fall for that old chestnut "hell, I've smoked for too long now, no point quitting the damage is already done". The best way to avoid further possible chronic lung damage is to stop now before it comes to that.

Anguss.....Cough..... :P

[Carol87]

Hey jeff .. keep up the good work being smoke-free ... I was a three packs a day smart-ass smoker for years ... don't tell me not to smoke, etc. Well, I live to regret that attitude ... although I quit in 1985, I'm paying the price today ... asthma and COPD -- although it is currently a 'mild' case, COPD does progress ... I can't swear it is all from my smoking since it was many years after I quit that my symptoms accelerated ... but common sense tells me that had I been more respectful of my body, I would be much better off today ...

Good to see you again ...