Stay Close!

Happy Sober Holidays!

We’re knee deep in the holidays and my thoughts always take me back to my first sober holiday season.  This time of year was always so emotionally painful during my drinking years.  Spending time with the family that hated me (and I hated right back), always being surrounded with opportunities to drink.   Hearing songs (mainly Elvis’ Blue Christmas) that reminded me of better times.  I was just a sobbing wreck on the inside with a tough outside. 

The bottom line, I passionately hated the holidays. 

Getting sober changed all that. 

It was around mid-November when I was standing at our local facility with a crusty “old timer” .   We were talking briefly about the holidays.  He looked over when an “older timer” came in and said, “this is his first sober Christmas”.  The Older Timer was a guy named Lou that used to fall asleep in meetings wearing an old hat and some of the most striking plaid paints I’d ever seen.  Despite the look, he had to be the most peaceful person I’d ever met.  His 21 years sober seemed like an eternity then.  Old Man Lou looked at me with foreboding eyes and simply said “stay close to the program.”

I was grateful that year that there were lots of copies of Box 459 around me that had the Twelve Tips For Keeping Your Holiday Sober and Joyous (thanks Santa Barbara AA for posting!)  I did what they said, I accumulated lots of telephone numbers and remembered that I might be helping others as much as myself by reaching out.  That is a habit that has stuck with me since then. I attended extra meetings and tried to help out, I went to AA holiday events and most importantly, I burried (only for a month) the Ax I had against organized religion.  Doing everything I could to keep my attention on my recovery did the trick.  I was pleasantly supprised at how much fun I was able to have SOBER!

Despite all the changes in life since then, the Holidays can still be a slippery time.  So whether this is your first sober holiday or your 50th, Stay Close to the Program!