Five Years Sober

Hello world and good day to you all. I have been sober since May 23rd, 2009 and life has been so much better for myself. I go to AA meetings and see a counselor every week for the last few years and my life has improved 200 percent. My old friends , I am not sure what became of them. So be it. I live another new life today than what I did at age 45. I live in Midland , Texas and was brought up in the oil patch all my life. There were times of course I strayed away for years to other cities in the country. Howeve, my home is still in Midland, Texas.

Staying sober in this town is easy , it's the living in this town that is hard to do. The obsession to drink has left my body and I also stopped smoking when I quit drinking at La Hacienda Treatment facility in Kerrville, Texas.Its been only five years so God only knows how far I can actually go with my life.

I have a new employer and being all powerful and abiding by their work ethics , I have maintained a stable job, that I love. I have blessed with my family members wanting to spend time with me. I have few friends and that is fine with me. I have quality friends instead of quatity. I have a renewed look upon life and how my life goes ahead in the future. I have a future now and it looks bright.

I wish all these good things to all of you in the world and try to just stay away from that first drink and I promise you will have a better life ahead of yourself. God Bless

God This Morning and Sobriety

It is July 24th 2014 and a Thursday where I live. It will be Thursday alll day long. What does God have in store for me today? I started my day as usual with reading the Bible and then the Big Book of AA. I had my coffee and Coke and now I am ready to conquer my day.

This is the usual way I wake up with prayer in the shower and reading when I have time. I always wake up earlier then I need to now for a reason. I am not sure what that reason is? I feel drowsie early in the morning and it's hard to wke my ass out of bed, but once I get going it seems to just flow. I have a schedule I adhere to everyday. When I was drinking I had no schedule.

In the morning when I drank beer the night before I would be trying to think of excuses for not going to work and lost many jobs this way.I have had several jobs and so be it. Now, sober and clear headed these feelings of trying to get out of work do not hit my mind, it is how to get going and get ready for the day..It's a 360 degree way of living for me.

There is an AA meeting at 7 am and I think I will try to hit that sometime, that means waking up even earlier and being ready to be at work on time. So , this is an idea. You see, AA is spiritual and these meetings are spiritual. SO It is like going to church without a bunch of
hypocrites. I know that does not sound correct, but i suppose church is just not for me. The sprirt of God is what I live for on a daily basis, not the Church. The meaning that the church coveys is good I am sure, but the spirituality is not there for me.God is fine with that in my mind, a church is where a group of people get together and worship God , well I do this in AA. So what is the difference, except the Holiness of stained glass windows and an expensive organ that anyone can play in my eyes. I am a musician so I see the organ most churches have and if you hit one note on the thing it sounds magnificent.

There are those of you who do not agree with me and that is fine, this blog is for me not you. I write down how I feel right now this minute and if you care to read than fine. Maybe it will give someone an insight of an recovered alcoholic and how sick he is and has been. I am fine and spirituality wise I am sane and in God's prayer.Have a good Thursday as I am sure I will learn some lessons today as I always do everyday in my new life...God Bless You all...Chris

Sobriety and Growing Stronger Each Day

I grow stronger each and every day of my sobriety. Do you understand what I am saying? I feel like I am growing each day with new challenges and opportunities in my life that I never had to deal with in life. This is truly a blessing in disguise for me. Today is Friday July 18th,2014 and it is 7:26 AM and I have been up since 6 Am. The funny part about this day  is I wake up so damn early and only to read my Big Book and the Bible , so as to start my day off in the right direction. It just feels good. I like feeling good about myself and others. If this is how I must do this , then so be it.I have been doing this for almost five of the last six years and it has meaning in my life.

Christopher Hyer@ Church in Odessa, Texas

Each day I grow stronger with knowledge of people and how they perceive me and how I perceive them. It is knowledge that brings strength to an individual or at least me. I want to know about things I do not already know. In my line of work, the variety of it keeps me interested. I do not do the same thing over and over. I fix MFP printers and Production Copiers for a living and they can be very confusing on how they operate sometimes, and then there are the God times. Where I don't know anything about what I am doing and I push the right switch or pull out paper from a place it should not be and the machine starts working. That is God doing for me what I could not do for myself. Do I pray for this while I am working, your darn right I do.

I pray constantly while I am driving or listening to music, while on my way to a job or just when I feel like I need God into my life right now. I just say prayers in my head while I steer to the next job that God will be with me and imagine him sitting next to me as we are are brothers going to work. Try this and see how it feels, imagine God being with you and your the only one that knows about God watching over your shoulder while driving or working, it's amazing to me how more confident I am when I do this. I am never alone.

God is our creator and we are his children and once you accept this into your life, you will be lost. I use to be called a lost soul by a young lady I met in Austin during my drinking years. I never really understood her, but now I do. I had lost my true self in my illusions of what I was or doing with my life. No place or situation that I changed could get me in touch with myself and my soul. I had grown up  in a Methodist church and feared God more than anything until I became open to him as I am now. Open your heart up to God and see what miracles can happen to you today!! God Bless...

Still Sober after SIx Years!! How and Why of it?

I have not posted to this blog in a while and I decided to write a little bit in this sobriety blog. I have now over six years of sobriety and I feel just fine. It is something that confuses me when I go to AA and some guy blurts out ,"I have 667 days and 12 hours of sobriety"..Well that  is fine and I am glad he does not think about his sobriety hourly..lol..However, we are all different, and for me it has become a part of my life.I don't think about it much at all, I just don't drink and I go to AA for reasons that I would say is my therapy.

You have to chose the right group for yourself. There are small groups and then there are the large ones. I prefer both, but I mostly go to a small group in Midland, Texas. It's called the 12 step group and there are quality people in my group with long term and short term sobriety. There has been a few I have met that have stayed sober and then one night have died from drinking again. So this disease can strike and kill at anytime you let up on it.

The How and Why of my sobriety is just I have a better life. It is more organized and I have daily rituals I go through in order to stay sober. These include reading the Bible, to reading the Big Book. I always get something out of both books and apply it to my day. It works and I have also started using hypnotism for a calming affect in my life. It is more of meditation than anything, and it works , if you want it to. Just like AA and what they stand for, You have to have an open mind. You have to believe in a higher power and I chose God as I know no other higher power than him.

It is July 2014 today and I feel better than I should. I have a meeting I go to on Thursday night, its called the La Hacienda out care group. It is therapy for me in this group as we go around the table  and discuss how our week went. Each person contributes a little bit of their life story. You really get to make some close friends in this type of atmosphere. Its a small group of about 10 people, and it is a shame because it is a aftercare group for people coming out of treatment from La Hacienda Treatment Center in Hunt , Texas..

There are a lot of drunks in Midland, Texas and I am sure there are where you are from. The oilfield has several rough , and angry workers. They work long hours and make gobs of money and spend it on drugs and booze. Most in the oil field that work on drilling rigs are ex-cons. So , that is not to say they are bad people, just pretty damn rough around the edges, and I am glad I don't work around them. God willing this place will slow down a bit , as there are so many people in this town because of the oil boom we have. Prices are high for housing , if you can find any. The groceries are high and the gas for cars is high. This place will bust someday as it has boomed and dried up many times. Yet those who are not aware of this, will greatly be dissapoited when the boom stops.

Oh well, just checking in on my blog. Be safe and God be with you!!!

God Got Me Sober Then God Got Me Drunk!!

Welcome to my blog and I will post your email to me as I just did with "God got me sober then God got me drunk"..This was in my blog email, and it struck me good. It either is from a person that is trying to heal through his alcoholism and is failing, or this person really means what he says.

My Oil Painting Christopher Hyer

Let's think about the statement this person sent me.Okay, I thought about it, and this person can say what he wants , this is a free USA and I am damn glad it is for now. He can say anything he pleases and believe in what he says.The "God got me drunk, I just don't buy unless God had a purpose for me to drink myself into a drunk state , so I would lean
how to recover and be a better person ,then I accept this. If this person is spiritual, and believes this he might have a hard time staying sober. I don't know, and really do not care.

This blog is about myself , and not the other alcoholics out there. I write because I like to see how far I have progressed in my disease against alcoholism.Everyday , I have to fight off the demons of doing wrong from right, it seems. I know drinking is not right for me ,so I do not drink. Period. God took this obsession away from me five years ago, and I don't think he intended my life to be a drunk.I used my will to drink not God's will to take the first drink.

I have to work at a funeral home on Thursday and I am dreading every minute I have to be in this place. Why? I don't know, exactly. This is a good reason to drink though, right..Wrong, I have learned to not drink when I have no control over my life, and all has turned out ok. I can find every thing, person, or situation to drink about , but now I chose to not drink it away and face my fears. I do ask from help from God to enter each and every day. I will do the same with this place full of death. However I have to remember that all these dead people in this place I am going to are actually going somewhere better. That is what the bible says, and I try to live up to the bible and it's words. Everlasting life is what we get for choosing to be the best we can in our human world. The spiritual self lives on. So I wonder how many thousands of spirits will run through this place when I work there. I am looking at this situation as a good thing, and that these spirits that are in this place will be willing to accept me...lol...I just hate that I have to go.However this to shall pass, and I live on to my next account.

Any more people want to comment , go right ahead, it gives me a reason to write about how I am feeling about life, today. God Bless You All!!!

Sober in a Alcoholic Society

Staying sober in a alcoholic society is key. There are beer ads and liquor ads that strike at us at all directions. The media is to blame and so are the companies that promote what they sell. They have a right to create a mass of media to sell their products , but to what extent? Your children and mine are affected by the ads that are on Bill boards in your city as well as mine. Every picture shows people having a god time and a bottle of their favorite drink next to them. Is this to assume that if I don't drink your product that I am to be unhappy and boring?

Photos By Christopher Hyer

The society that we live in tolerate alcohol and the alcoholic, that is out of control. You have friends that drink too much , as I have them. Do we tell them, I don't unless they ask. I will be upfront and chose words that are not of an AA nature possibly. We were all there at one point in our lives. Could not put the beer down and when we did, we went and grab the car keys and made sure our breath was not smelling like liquor , just to go buy more liquor. The insanity of our alcoholism, is so obvious when you think back of how it use to be drinking.

Society and friends think that it's normal to drink. It is widespread throughout the world. To celebrate any holiday, we drink. Birthdays, Anniversaries, Joyous occasions are celebrated with alcohol. Every day of the week was a holiday for me , I would have to say. It was not a fun holiday in the end. It was off to the races , when I was coming down from a drinking binge. Back to the local store where they knew me by name and what I drank. I was special to this store owner!! 

Friends , that I would call after catching a slight buzz would know right off that I was drunk when I phoned them. It was normal for them to cut me off when I spoke to some of my family members and close friends. I was a closet drinker and did not go driving around and drinking. I might get another DWI, so I thought I was smart in not driving and just drinking at home. I was alone and getting lonelier. It is heart breaking when I think about it, so I try not to think about the bad times. There were so many towards the end of my drinking though, it is hard not to forget..

Social outcast as I was, and not blending in with social drinkers was me. In fact, when I had to meet business associates for a drink out, I would not drink alcohol, because I knew I would not stop at one glass. I would drink soda water with lime , like I do now all the time. I used my head when I

did drink , and then I did not. After a while the body gives out from so much alcohol, and starts to kill you. Your liver goes bad, and you have to heal or you die.

Photo By Christopher Hyer

This is the reality of being sober in an alcoholic society!! For some people and I am talking into the millions in the USA, alcohol is killing us. I am sure you can think of one or two people right this minute that is alcoholic and you can't do a thing about it. He has to change, not you changing him. That is where our thinking has to change in society. There is a cure for this disease and its rather simple. It just takes stopping that first drink and for long you will be a sober individual, with a life better than you had ever in your life... Christopher Hyer 6.7.2014

Five Years as of This Month , Sober

I have not kept up with this blog on Sobriety and I will try to keep it going since there are people reading it.As of this writing , I will receive my 5 year chip for sober living on Tuesday night. It is a bigger deal than I first thought. I have for the last year been granted a great job in which I get to travel. I have a healthy son that is a non drinker and non smoker and he is 20, I have been blessed with a new house that was given to me by my mother, I have a daily routine, which I never had before sobering up. I pray constantly and my prayers are answered in a way I can't really put my finger on.

Don't be caught in this!!lol

God has given me everything I could possibly need in life , and God either is or is not. He is the main reason for my success and I have to say AA also has improved my thought patterns about people and life. Watching the new comer come in all strung out with no hope. That is the real deal with AA is helping those with no hope as I was one of these. They really don't seeem to get it, but a couple will stay around and sober up out of 30 people that come to my group , which is called the 12 Step Group of Midland, Texas.

The AA group I go to has a low attendance and I seem to like it that way. Every one has their preference, and I go every Thursday and Saturday to this group. It is on my schedule to do this and I don't even think twice about it. It has become habit to me and a good one at that. You learn that your problems may not be as big as you think when attending an AA meeting, and then you might just go away in a pink cloud, and happy that you went. That to me, is the spiritual side of AA, the God miracle working in our group as maybe in your group.

I have chaired meetings the last few months and enjoy doing this. If my sponsor ask me to do this , I automatically will. There is something to be said about relationships with others in AA that are staying sober, you can trust them. People that you would of past and not look back at, now are respectable citizens with jobs and family.

Marfa , Texas

My family is not very close, however since I have cleaned up they have become closer. My mother and I were so far apart when I was drinking that we never really knew each other. Now I have the deepest respect for her and my brothers and sister, that are in my family. My father on the other hand still drinks quite a bit, and God Bless him, and I hope he lives out a good life. I still have lunches with my father at the bar of a local restaurant. It bothers me none that he drinks wine consist
ently while chatting to me, and I don't bug him about his drinking. He is 78 years old and has a few DWI's and knows what he is into if he gets caught. It is his life and I can't tell him what to do. He is wealthy and thinks he can buy his self out of this. I just pray he does not hurt anyone, or he could not live with himself.

On a positive note, Life is good, and it is not easy being single in this town I live in. I am making the best of it the only way I know how, is to not take a drink. That's it!!!Really once you stop and stay stopped, life gets better, but it takes time. I am living proof of this. Have a good day, I know I will. Christopher Hyer