Thanksgiving and What it Means To Sober Alcoholics

Thanksgiving is a time spent with family to get together and enjoy each others company. My family is split , so it usually means having to drive to two towns and celebrating with my Mother and my Father. This is difficult and I spend most fo the day going between homes than I do actually staying there and relaxing. My family is always on the go , so relaxing is something that rarely happens for me, as I am always on my toes trying to pleasure whom I am with.
As an alcoholic , there is seldom any drinking going on at either house for fear that I might want to indulge, this has been going on for years. I really don't pay much attention to this but when I leave they pop open the liquor at my fathers house, SO am I in the way? I don't care really they should not invite me if they did not want me to come. Putting up the liquor is ridiculous as I have no desire to drink it any way. People do not understand an alcoholic can got o the store at anytime and buy the drink of their choice in the morning , afternoon or late at night. Just be cause it is a holiday does not mean I am going to drink or not drink. Relatives are only trying to help, I understand, but in a way, they hinder the relationship. Let them be what they are, and if stuck ina situation where liquor is being a part of Thanksgiving and it gets in your mind, just leave and make a excuse.

SO enjoy your family as we all need them in our lives, do not cause a problem at these gatherings and leave if you decide it is time. It is only one day and you have 364 other days to work with in your sobriety. Personally , I don't think of the Holidays as much anymore, and every holiday is not a drinking day, it was everyday when I was drinking some eight years ago.

So go out and eat with your family if you have one, if not find one at a free meal place and help out. That is doing 12 step work even if everybody is sober, you are helping others who cannot help themselves. I might as well do some volunteer
work myself at Thanksgiving, it would give me an excuse to get out of traveling to please everybody in my family. Chris Hyer

Life Goes On, Stay Sober and Peace will Come

I have hit a few ruff spots lately and if I was not sober right now, I don't think I would be handling them very well. How do you handle issues that come up where you have no control? You give it up to God. That is one lesson I have learned in AA. It is a good lesson because life goes on with or without my living body. This is true for most of us, if we were to die, the traffic would not stand still, well maybe for the funeral, but nothing would be said about me that would matter. I chose my direction in life when I was in my teens and some were smart. However now that I am in my fifties, I wish I would of made changes that would be a little bit more positive in my life today.

I have changed for the better since I have sobered up and I care for people that I use to not care about. It use to be all about myself that I was concerned with. Selfishness, and I find that I fall into this on some days even being sober. Life goes on, regardless of my mistakes I make now , but hopefully these mistakes will be learned by myself and cease to happen over and over again. Living in a sober world is not easy at times, we cannot breeze through it , or can we? Faith without works is death, so I would rather live in the now then worry about things that will change as time goes on and moves forward. I am on one of those days where I am confused about my life. I wish some things were better, and then I am blessed with the things that I have going for me . Confusion is casued when i don't attend AA meetings, and that is one thing I have not done for a week, so it is possibly time to get off my ass and go to a meeting or talk to a sponsor. These tools we have are valuable. Have a great day. Chris Hyer

Family and Sobriety

My brother who lives in California came for a visit to see my parents and myself over the last few days. He was proud of how my life seemed to be going. He and I were drinking buddies and pot smoking friends as well as brothers. He is older and wiser than I was growing up. He knew when to quit and his little brother just kept drinking and smoking all day long. He is a Doctor and I am a struggling job chaser. If I could change one thing it would be that I would of finished up college, then I might not be chasing jobs on a yearly basis. I am never satisfied I figure. He has been to Paris and Austin and now California with the same corporation for over 30 years. I envy people like this now, and never thought about what I did, doing alcohol and stuff would creep up on myself and put me years behind everyone I loved, but there are possibilities that one day I will be proud of what I do for a living and more happy with my living situation and where I live. I am happy with my progress , but this is a disease that I have and I have a few mental issues, and I live the best God will let me live. Therfor I am not 100% dissapoited with my life, but a little bit.

I did like the fact that my brother is proud of my sobriety and he said he would of killed me if I did not sober up. I have to admit I was pretty bad to my parents when drinking and bad to him, stealing his money for drugs and drinking and all the hell I put everyone through. However the program of AA has taught me not to live in the past but look forward to the future, and that is how I try to live my life on a daily basis. It has been good my last 8 years of sobriety and I am a little more quite and a Introvert, but that is just me. I can change some of the things and some I cannot , as the story goes with most recovering alcoholics. Maybe a few of you can understand where I am coming from.

Donanld Trump , now President is a good thing for our country we hope. I hope one day we can unite as one party and just get along as Americans not separated by two parties but that might be impossible. A new President who has to live up to what he has said might make a difference to everyone in the world and I hope it helps everyone. Anyway have a good day and put a smile on your face, You are alive! Chris Hyer

Proof that Sobriety is a Beautiful Idea to Achieve

My spnosor sent the following message to my email as he always shares very interesting things to me. I belive it is God placing two people who are recovered alcoholics together with the same thinking in mind . Sobriety is such a beautiful idea to conceive, if not sober today, I would not of found this as beautiful as I did this morning . I hope you enjoy this.

Wyman Meinzer, the Texas State Photographer, used to live in the old jail in Benjamin, TX. The photo of the coiled rattlesnake appeared on the cover of a wildlife magazine in the 80's. He said there were times he crawled a long way on his belly to get a good shot of a wild animal.

The music is by Doug Smith. Doug is from Petersburg, Texas and lives south of town. Doug plays by ear- He cannot read music, but has many CDs. A pickup accident left Doug paralyzed and he does not play anymore.

Most of the pictures were taken in the rolling plains (cap rock to Seymour, the Fork, 6666, and Waggoner Ranches). There are some scenes in Palo Duro Canyon.

Please take a moment to watch this....I don't know if I've ever come across such a skillful combination of music and amazing animal and landscape photography. The changes in the tempo perfectly compliment the scenery.

This is simply a beautiful portrayal of the unique part of our continent.

Press this link to open up the video!!

God Bless Chris Hyer 11/6/2016

Phone Interviews For the Recovering Alcoholic

It would seem as I get older and look for jobs that a phone interview for most people looking for work is normal.Where have the days of dressing nice and Resume in hand gone to? I remember having to drive quite a bit to go fill out an application , and I have to admit that I like the online idea of being hired. You fill out an application online, and everyone knows you are looking for jobs, some how? However , this is how I tend to get hired on to work for someone anymore. Nothing on the Internet is sacred. When I talk about my alcoholism that i went through , I am putting myself out there in never , never land and anyone can read about it. It does not bother me in the least as a alcoholic is suppose to help other alcoholics and the Internet makes this posible, even if you don't want people to find out about it.

It is like searching for a job, I was called from all over the USA this week and told about jobs in my little city of Midland , Texas. How did they know I was looking for work? Well, I know enough about computers that the cookies that are put into your browser, will stay up to 90 days and they sell information about what your looking at on the Internet and what your trying to do on the Internet. There is no secret to anything anymore.

I grew up as a "Baby Boomer", age group is what socialogist call my age, and lucky enough I am pretty savy about how to work the Internet and work on computers for that fact. Cell phones and andything that is connected to the Internet is pretty easy for me to understand. Hell, when I was drunk I use to try hacking sites and stuff and I got myself in trouble a few times. I'm not much into trying to hack anything at all cause big brother is watching and I really don't care about the inner world of the dark side of the Internet. Alcoholics are pretty smart individuals and I bet if you are reading this, you would agree with me on this statement. I drank because I was too smart and I celebrated my clever ideas and then I would get sick. Of course it took a while to take the cure, of not drinking, and then realizing how intelligent I really was back in my drinking days, I was also addicted to drinking to prove how smart I was and you were not. Vicious circle they call this attitude. It is a disease, they say and It is a mental illness. Well, it is what it was and I am glad today I don't have to drink. Have a good day. Chris Hyer

Weight Loss With Sobriety, This is what I Did!!!

Hi , my name is Chris and I am a alcoholic that has recovered. I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes only 3-4 weeks ago. I am a 53 yr old male , that had let hamburgers and french fries rule my life. In fact anything I could get my hands on to eat and drink was making me fatter as the days went on. I really did not care until I was diagnosed with Diabetes. I have known many friends with Diabetes and thought not much about this disorder, but I was told I needed to lose weight by my Doctor.

That very day, I found a gym and threw out my chocolate cookie dough ice cream and all the junk food in my refrigerator and changed my life again. This is what I do on a daily basis and have lost 17 lbs in 3-4 weeks : This is not a diet plan I say works for every one but it does for me, so I thought as a fellow alcoholic I would share this simple plan that has made me lighter and more fulfilled as I continue to lose weight.

The first thing I did was enroll in a gym at 24.99 a month for 24 hr access. All I wanted to do was lose weight not gain muscles. I walk on the treadmill for 10 min. now and beef this up at least two minutes everyday. I also ride a bike inside and do this for 15 min. a day and beef this up as I feel like it, so in all I spend about 20 min to 25 min. in the gym. Then I drink a lot of water. Water every day in the morning at noon and at night, I over dose on water.

Breakfast , I eat Greek low-fat Yogurt and a Banana and then at lunch I drink a Boost chocolate drink and eat Almonds to fill me up. At night I have a Pork chop and Spinach with dressing or some type of fish like shrimp and vegetables and lots of fruit. I eat fruit all day long. I also eat Jerky when I get a craving and it fulfills me and I am satisfied . These are just different habits I have made in my life and I see the results each day as I weigh myself.

Changes have to happen when you want results from a job, or relationship or losing weight. Alcoholics have to change to cut out drinking and accept the way they live which is a different way in which they lived when they drank. Losing weight or having to change is quite normal for the recovering alcoholic because our lives change on a continuous circle of years.

If it is a positive change you will reap the rewards, I am figuring this out. Negative thinking has to go out the door with alcoholics and replaced with positive thinking when we want to accomplish our personal goals. Is this selfish, yes it can be , to make yourself a better person. That is why staying sober is so important to our everyday living and saying prayers to God to help us have the courage to change our ways for the better. I hope this might help someone, but like I say all the time this is my journal and I am just keeping track of my changes. Have a Great Day! Chris Hyer

Changes In Life with Sobriety

My life keeps foinf every day. Sometimes the changes are good and other times the changes are not that god. The 2 Steps of AA help me deal with change. I give this up to God. I have no other choice. I do my work in the program and he does his. If we really believe in God then changes work out pretty good. However they may not work out like we want them . I recently have been offered a couple of jobs then they were taken back. I never have experienced that type of change. I drive for Uber at times to make extra money and I like meeting other people who may not be as fortunate as I am in my life. It matters no how much money one has , but their character, is what is interesting. Uber is a humbling experience in Midland as most wealthy Oil and Gas business men use the service cause it is cheap for them and reliable. I have written a couple of children's books and put them on Amazon , and they are going nowhere, but the effort I put into these were not sufficient. Therefor you get what you put out.

I recently found out I had Diabetes and I have changed my lifestyle again. I read up on what foods I need to eat and went and bought these, and they are not so bad. I want to live, and I want to be healthy, so I do what I can to progress in my life. It took me a while to get my insurance to acept my medication for Diabetes which is ridiculous. I needed prior authorization before the Insurance would give me a break on this medication. It took me 2 weeks of fighting the Dr office, Pharmacy and Blue Cross before I got the price of a medication from 1300.00 to 10.00 but I did get it taken care of. God gives us tools to work with and when I mean fight, I don't mean that I was angry, I just had to follow a outline of what the Insurance was wanting, but it became a full time job. Ridiculous as it was , it saved me and my life is back to normal. Have a good day and please comment if you like and I will post thee. Have a Good Day! Chris Hyer