The holiday seasons and their celebrations, for many, are approaching and I am really looking forward to them. It’s a time for me to share precious time with family members, especially those that I only get to see a few times a year. Sober life is going by fast for me and I don’t want to miss any of it.  What a joy, however that was not always the case.  During my active alcoholic years, the holidays  used to be a time of anger and disappointment within myself that other people had cheerful and wonderful times and I didn’t. Of course it was of my own making. You see, I put the bottle in front of family and just about anything else. Thankfully, God and a lot of good people along the way pulled me away from that ill way of living and thinking and what a blessing it has been. My wish is that same has happened for you or that it will for you if you honestly want to get sober and allow God to come into your life. I say this because if I could have gotten sober by my own free will then that would have happened way back in 1991 when I made my first attempt to stop drinking. It did not work then and for the next 12 years it did not as well, as I tried hundreds of times on my own to do so, sometimes twice in one day only to get drunk all over again. All I can say then is that God allowed me to get sober because it had been proven that it was not of my own doing. I am just suggesting this because it worked for me.

I just had a few other things I wanted to share today. With lots of celebration there may be a lot of alcohol being served or consumed at various  functions in your life. I suggest that you be very careful in protecting your sobriety. For me, if I must attend some of these events I like to try to bring a friend along to be there for me in case temptation to drink prevents itself. As it has been said before, there is a monster inside of me just waiting to come out and return to my active alcoholic days. May that never happen to any of us but it is just waiting for us to take that first drink. Secondly, I like to know what I am drinking at all times. Some of the tempting looking refreshments may contain alcohol. I suggest pouring your own non-alcoholic drink and holding on to the cup or glass. If you happen to set it down and forget which one is your then pour you a fresh drink in another cup. This may sound silly or wasteful to you but I do it to protect my sobriety at all cost. My experience at functions is that many times there will be numerous cups or glasses hanging around with drink remaining in them and you never know if you accidentally may mix your cup up with another and get a different drink, one that may contain alcohol. I may be redundant in posting these suggestions, as I have posted similar suggestions before, but I just feel it’s a good idea to revisit this at times, especially during times  cheerful celebration.

I hope these suggestions will be helpful and that you do whatever it takes to stay sober. For those of you still ill from the disease of alcoholism my sincere wish is that you make seek God as a savior, not necessarily in the religious sense but more from a belief that some greater power than yourself , can help you achieve sobriety. I hope this post shows you what I do, as a recovered alcoholic, to protect my sobriety. May everyone be blessed and stay safe over this holiday season.

Thanks for reading and feel free to post any comments, you wish, that may help the still suffering alcoholic out there, find sobriety .