I always tell myself that it doesn’t matter how far I am from my last drink – it’s how close am I to my next one? (And to be honest; I am always no more than an arm’s length from complete disaster.) Therefore, I have a few things that I would like to share that help me with not taking that first one. It is super important for me to do some sort of daily meditation or prayer every morning. (It doesn’t have to be a serious guru-style enlightening moment where you almost start levitating!) just a quick, honest and earnest prayer to whatever Higher Power there is, asking to help keep you sober…and then to keep quiet for a few minutes is a great start. It’s also a very good idea to read the Daily Reading as that will set the tone for the rest of my day. But life happens and often we can find ourselves in difficult situations where we want to escape to a place where we don’t have to deal with it all – my default was to always believe that I was not strong enough to deal with it, and a drink would then give me ‘courage’. I want to say…this is bullish*t, because I am strong enough to deal with anything that life throws at me. Now I don’t resist the situation, but instead accept the difficulty with a mindset of ‘I can handle this!’. In my early days of sobriety, I did crave alcohol – and that scared the living hell out of me, because all I wanted was a drink. I would then call my sponsor, because to reach out to someone – meant that I was handing it over to something bigger than myself. There is immense power in one alcoholic helping another alcoholic…so my suggestion is to allow yourself to be helped. We sometimes forget how powerful the phrase “JUST FOR TODAY” is. Because if I didn’t take a drink, just for today – it alleviates the situation immediately. I try and pause and take a breath…before I do anything – I just pause and think about what the results would be before I make a certain decision. I can suggest that you ask yourself, as I do many times each day, “Is this the next right thing to do?”

With just over three years and four months of sobriety and working through the steps a second time, my best ever solution to not taking that first drink – is to reach out to someone else instead. This is an immediate solution to the problem and has gotten me out of trouble on countless occasions. I am thankful for the fact that above all, I do have a defense against that first drink – and that is what keeps me going. It’sa power greater than me, that caused me to have some sort of a shift and it guarantees that if I don’t take that first drink – I can’t get drunk. Simple as that. ~Adrian

Ways To Handle The Urge (or any disturbance). The list of things we can do to help us when we feel like a drink is pretty long… The way I look at it is if I just start doing the things on this list and keep going there’sa good chance the feeling will go away. In practice, I’ve never had to do more than 3 or 4 or the things on the list before I get ‘back on the beam’, but if I had to do them all….twice .. I would! •  Pray •  Call a fellow •  Text a fellow or an AA WhatsApp group •  Read the Big Book or other AA literature •  Meditate •  Call my sponsor •  Step 4 (especially good for anger, arguments and resentments) •  Step 10 (good at the end of the day, or the start) •  Step 9 (i often find making a quick amends prevents further harm and brings back some balance) •  Pause – especially good if I’m feeling like confronting someone or emailing or texting them •  Pray for the person who is the focus of your pain or anger •  Step 3 prayer •  Step 7 prayer •  Step 11 prayer •  Listen to a speaker tape •  Go to a Meeting •  Write a gratitude list – especially good when I’m feeling sorry for myself •  Service – think of a way to help someone then help them •  Go to an outreach (reach out!) meeting (Angsana, We Care, IMH etc.) •  Reach out to a newcomer •  Go Back to the start of the list 😉