Posted on 10/08/2013 10:15:12 AM PDT by nickcarraway
South Africans are being asked to quit drinking for the month of October as part of a campaign to raise awareness about alcohol abuse.
The idea behind the OcSober campaign is simple - stay sober in October.
Instead of drinking away their cash, participants are encouraged to donate it to a charity of your choice.
Organisers hope that the initiative will help to reduce the number of alcohol-related fatalities on roads.
Charity organisations have given the campaign the thumbs up.
“It’s new for us, but I think if you talk about a campaign like this and you can really market it properly, I can really say that it can have a positive impact to spread the message of responsible alcohol use,” David Fourie of SANCA said.
Organisers say embracing that by embracing the OcSober concept, participants can ensure they will not themselves become statistics of alcohol-related incidents.
My experience was similar. I did NOT want to go to meetings. I went anyways, and after a while, I discovered I didn't HAVE to go to meetings, I *GOT* to go to meetings. They became high points in my day. The love, the camaraderie, the recovery and good suggestions on how to live life, were stellar.
Here's where the contrast between abstinence and recovery comes into play. If one considers sobriety as merely not drinking, it can be quite miserable. However, recovery is a lifelong process.
It becomes a matter of maintaining a watch over ones own spiritual condition and daily reminders that this vigilance is a lifelong project.
At some point, it becomes as natural as slamming down as much booze as we needed to get the job done once was.
Did not see you on thread until I posted mine. Dude! That is cosmic -or something.
Thanks for filling me in. One must be vigilant, and I think that this is where my cousin has failed. That and keeping an eye on his spiritual condition. If this doesn’t become an engrained habit every single day, than I can see how you can slip back into the behavior you’re trying to avoid. Must be tough lesson to learn and some people never learn the lesson.
September 2,1985
It’s the attitudes and disposition of the heart that always precede misbehavior. Relapsers tell us this when they come back to try again. When we attend a meeting, we get that reminder off of their pain and suffering. It’s quite powerful.
I also credit my success to this experience.
Good man...
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