I am grateful for the internal tug-o-war I am experiencing, this is a huge opportunity for growth. I am grateful that I can feel like a fly on the wall sometimes during these moments inside myself, between different parts of myself. I am able to watch, listen and see who says what and these days I recognize why. I am grateful that I can differentiate between the wounded parts of me, my inner child and the divine guidance that lives within me. I can see when those wounded parts of me try to ease my pain when its actually them that needs easing. I am grateful for the ability to see.
I am grateful that when I speak my voice comes out. 3 years ago I was literally strangled by fear. I couldnt share at meetings, I didnt believe in myself, I had beaten myself down so badly I believed I had nothing left to give. 3 years ago I had no voice, I couldnt speak. I could yell, and scream and rage sure but that was fear too. I am grateful that my voice is used for kindness today.
I am grateful for all the snow and to be snuggled under the covers watching TV. I am grateful that I am warm, that I am not hungry and that I am surrounded by love.
Iām grateful Iām not getting ājustifiablyā rage drunk tonight. My interactions today with two different people in my world (phone calls only, thankfully - not IRL) would have had me doing just that, in the before time. (I did, today, repeatedly put said two people on my own mental list of things that can FRO, but hey - I did it sober AF. )
Iām grateful for the deep tissue massage I had scheduled this evening. Perfect timing.
Iām grateful I got home from my massage just in time to sign in to my Sangha. More perfect timing.
Some days donāt feel like growth. Iām grateful thatās ok, as long as Iām putting my sober head on the pillow. Iām grateful I can keep refining how I respond to triggering situations for the rest of my life. Truly. One day at a time.
More perfect timing with winter solstice coming. The sunās rebirth in a few short days.
Iām grateful for the newness of every day.
Iām grateful for chickadees. How they stay warm in this, I dunno! (-28C/-18F, but with windchill feels more like -37C/-35F). Probably because they donāt spend energy raging against things outta their control?
Iām grateful for this thread, my home thread. Iām grateful for you, Gratidudes.
Iām grateful I can sit in my discomfort now. Avoiding it at all costs would be my norm. I would ____ it away. Insert addiction here. Then I wondered why nothing changed. Why I never changed. Why I kept creating the same scenarios over and over in my life.
Iām grateful I sit with my pain now. Iām grateful that when I do, I grow. I feel an answer. The universe gives me one.
Iām grateful for change. For knowing myself better. For healing. That it is not always what society tells us it will be, in fact maybe it rarely is. But instead a peace that doesnāt leave me wanting more. A warmth that makes me feel like I am home and on the right path, my own.
Its crazy how fast a year can go by and how different your life can be at the end of it.
I am so incredibly grateful to wake up today sober. A year ago, I woke up and decided I couldnāt live another day the way I had been living. I hopped out of bed, drained the rest of the alcohol, and downloaded this app.
Instantly, this community was there for me. I canāt exclain how grateful I am for all of you on here. This app was a huge part of my initial sobriety. Any time of day, I could come on here and talk about the good times, the bad times, the insane football game that was on TV, our fur babies, or quite literally anything else. The support and community I found here was unlike anything else I had ever experienced.
Iām posting in this thread because when I think of my sobriety, gratitude is the word that comes to mind. My life is unrecognizably better in sobriety than when I was drinking.
I was going to list all the things I have been grateful for over the last year, but when I start to think about it, the list is too long. So to keep it short, I am grateful for the peace, love, and happiness I get to feel, and share, throughout my days.
My sobriety
My hubbys sobriety
Boscoes healthy and happy @Pica one year milestone
Everyone here sharing their love and support to others struggling
I get to work my 10th step tonight
Love
Hope
Joy
Soon to be holiday break
Iāve been thinking about you all here a lot lately and even though I havenāt been in in forever, I knew it would make me feel good to post a little.
Iām grateful for sneaking up on my one year. Iām so freaking proud of myself I canāt stand it. I want to get a chip but all the ones I looked at were AA ones with religious quotes which isnāt my thing. Iāll have to keep looking.
Iām grateful to have made it through the two most torturously slow retail months in my plant shop. My CC companies arenāt happy but I managed to barely scrap by and my hard work paid off with two big contracts and lots of traffic for holiday shopping. (Well, not lots but more lol!)
Iām grateful for my husband being so supportive of this journey Iāve been on. Learning how to relate to each other without the shadow of alcohol has been interesting. I feel so present and it almost seems like Iām getting to know him (and myself) all over again. Itās bizarre.
Iām grateful that throughout all the stress of financial nightmares that come when you open a brew business, while I definitely did have cravings, I never once wavered in my commitment to myself to stay sober. I never would have been able to do this if I was still drinking.
Iām grateful that I can start thinking about new goals, that I may actually be able to complete, now that my one year is almost here.
And Iām grateful for this community. I may not come in here much, but you all were there for me in the very beginning and I think of you often.
Iām grateful for my shabby little Christmas decorations this year.
Iām grateful I didnāt overdo it, but i do I wish I had more. At least a bigger tree.
Iām grateful I have to bring the car to the shop by myself and a meeting this afternoon/evening.
Iām grateful Iām looking forward to the afternoon alone time. Bullshit!! Iām looking forward to being away from the afternoon drinking time from my loved one!
Iām grateful I stayed up late and watched a movie last night 11:15 pm and slept in until 7:20.
Iām grateful for that little flashlight on my phone as I tried to read my ODAAT In Al-Anon in the dark because I didnāt get up to turn on the light this morning. I had Benson on my lap. Those are the rules.
Iām grateful I feel today is going to be a better day.
Iām grateful if itās not. Then maybe tomorrow will be.
Iām grateful my ham arrived late last night. Fucking FedEx sucks. Ooops
Iām grateful I donāt have to worry about anymore deliveries for me or anyone else for Christmas. No last minute shit. I lost the tracking on one of our deliveries and they should have received it Friday and I donāt know if it got there or not. Itās driving my wife crazy. But you know what. They either got it or they didnāt or they will. Or maybe they wonāt. Itās completely out of my hands. āInsert grinch emoji hereā
We donāt see things as they are.
We see things as we are.
Anais Nin
Iām glad you stopped by. You may not know it but, You are one of the people that gave me the nudge to go to my Al-Anon meetings. Actually it was a shove! It was all because of your stories about your first meeting. You sat in the car and didnāt go in then your second meeting. I think you got out of the car but still didnāt go in. And eventually you got into those meetings. I have to admit. I thought if she can set aside her fears and go in. Then so can I. Iāve been enjoying my Al-Anon meetings now for 6 months because of you.
Thank you for that
Iām so fucking happy for ya!!
Too bad the Rams couldnāt pull it out last night. I was thinking about ya. It would have been a great continuing story for Baker M.
Today Iām grateful for my warm and cozy house. Iām grateful for therapy and an appointment with my counsellor. I needed to talk about my divorce. Iām grateful we were divorced yesterday. Iām grateful I felt relieved yesterday. Iām grateful I could get all my today emotions out on the loved ones thread. Iām grateful for the kind words I received. Thank you, it means so much to me. Iāve been crying nearly all afternoon and evening. Iām grateful a friend called and disturbed my sadness. Iām grateful for cuddling cats. Iām grateful day one as divorced woman is over. ODAATš
Nice to see ya Jessica.
Have you looked at doingitsober.com ?
Thereās a dragonfly one and a tree of life one that donāt have the G word
I wish I had a chip for my first year. But my second year chip that I do have is the best thing ever
I hope you find something.
Congrats almost to your 1 year.
That the universe gives me what I need when I need it most.
Iām grateful for unconditional love. That arguments allow you to truly see another person. That sometimes we need to tear ourselves open to be seen and heard. That walking on egg shells doesnāt cause growth. That when you are feeling exposed and full of confusion with someone you love - thereās a chance that they are feeling as scared and just as exposed and vulnerable as you. Iām grateful Iām brave enough to have these talks now. That I open the door and allow my feelings to come out. That I donāt fear the fall out and that I have a voice. That they have a voice too. That there can be two realities. That we donāt always have to see eye to eye to mean that we love each other. That love can look different and change. Iām grateful to feel so much love for someone. Iām grateful to feel love for myself. To forgive myself. Iām grateful to be me
Iām grateful for the space Iām in - physically in my warm little abode. Mentally and emotionally? Itās funny. Life is far from perfect, but Iām grateful for here and now. That this is me and this is my life right now. Tweaks are in order, sure! But by tending to the biggie (my recovery), well, the other things seem to get sorted, or come into alignment, or fall into the compostā¦ or wherever they might need to go. Iām grateful for the space Iām in.
Iām grateful for a stretch of time, this week and next, ahead of me.
Iām grateful, actually, itās so damn cold. But just for a little while please! I feel appropriately reflective this holiday, this year, and the hunkering in weather seems to match this mood. Iām also quite tired, and this weather is when I tend to get deep rest. Iām grateful I can let myself rest, reflect.
I think you all know how much I turn to the poets to make sense of my world.
At the risk of derailing this thread, Iām going to share a poem with you that speaks, at least to me, at winter solstice, and also of recovery. And now it also reminds me of @erntedankās courage.
Sweet Darkness
When your eyes are tired the world is tired also. When your vision has gone no part of the world can find you. Itās time to go into the night where the dark has eyes to recognize its own. Itās time to go into the dark where the night has eyes to recognize its own. There you can be sure you are not beyond love. The dark will make a home for you tonight. The night will give you a horizon further than you can see. You must learn one thing. The world was made to be free in. Give up all the other worlds except the one to which you belong. Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet confinement of your aloneness to learn anything or anyone that does not bring you alive is too small for you.
I am grateful for this last day of work and the looong timeout thatās coming up. I am grateful for the kindness of humans. So many are happy for me and wish me well. And when I said I worried about feeling lonely on my travels, all of them offered to ring me up. It feels good to know, people will be there for me. For the longest time I only relied on myself. I didnāt want to have to trust and rely on people. No wonder I was so mentally exhausted all the time. It ate up all my energy to do everything on my own. I am grateful for the slowdown and time to read beautiful poetry and books and contemplate the beauty of this world. Today does feel like the perfect day for a change in energy.
I am grateful to not wake up feeling like a wounded animal with thoughts that i am going crazy, i am grateful for my family a roof over my head and food in my belly
)
and slept in until 7:20.
āInsert grinch emoji hereā 
then your second meeting. I think you got out of the car but still didnāt go in. And eventually you got into those meetings. I have to admit. I thought if she can set aside her fears and go in. Then so can I. Iāve been enjoying my Al-Anon meetings now for 6 months because of you.
and books and contemplate the beauty of this world. Today does feel like the perfect day for a change in energy.