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- Path: sparky!uunet!spool.mu.edu!uwm.edu!linac!att!cbnewsc!cbfsb!att-out!rutgers!concert!samba!joan
- From: joan@med.unc.edu (Joan Shields)
- Newsgroups: alt.recovery
- Subject: Re: My sobriety date
- Message-ID: <1992Dec30.211633.26798@samba.oit.unc.edu>
- Date: 30 Dec 92 21:16:33 GMT
- References: <1992Dec28.232555.10626@fuug.fi>
- Sender: usenet@samba.oit.unc.edu
- Organization: UNC-CH School of Medicine
- Lines: 35
- Nntp-Posting-Host: icard.med.unc.edu
-
- In article <1992Dec28.232555.10626@fuug.fi> an3203@anon.penet.fi (Andrew) writes:
- >I just thought I would provide an opposing viewpoint from
- >the others who posted here on sobriety dates (or clean time).
-
- I'm going to have to disagree with you here.
-
- >When I had only one day sober I could not have said anything
- >about how to stayu sober to anyone. Someone with 10 years of
- >continuous sobriety can tell me a hell of a lot about how to
- >stay sober, because he/she has been through a lot more of
- >those low spots that I'm sur to find.
-
- I've been sober almost 7 years and while it's true I've gotten a lot out
- of oldtimers (and anyone else with more "time" than I) I have also gotten
- a tremendous amount of help from newcomers. There's the old saying, "Out
- of the mouthes of babes..." and the way newcomers can help me remember
- that if I'm sober today it's something. I forget how it was and the new-
- comer helps me remember. Also working with newcomers helps me - I relearn
- all those lessons by helping someone else go through them. It also helps
- when I have to sit down and explain why I do the things I do - sometimes
- I get caught :).
-
- >And I'll put my money on the 25 year guy over the slipper any
- >day, at least as far as being able to be useful to me.
-
- I always make it a point to listen very very carefully to someone who has
- slipped and come back. It helps me not slip when I hear over and over
- again the reasons they went out and that it's still cold out there in the
- bottle.
-
- Everyone, from the one day sober to to 57 year sober has important things
- to offer us all if we'll just keep listening. Even the assholes can save
- our asses.
-
- Joan
-