AA / Recovery Sayings

I have been writing down what I hear people say in meetings for the past 7 years. My dad used to do it when he was in meetings, and when I was younger, I always thought it was weird. Well, apparently the apple does not fall far from the tree. Enjoy!

Restraint of thumb and send

Stay sober life changes

Know how you become normal? You act normal!

Defects are like accessories, I lose one and find another.

The Big Book is magic, but you have to open it.

If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans.

Thank God I’ve got the “spirit” (faith) to see me through.

The gift of sobriety is: It’s pretty good.

Disease centered in my mind, can’t go to the problem to find the solution.

Every time I come to A.A. my comfort increases.

My opinions have loosened.

Long Term Sobriety: It was parents fault, then wasn’t parents fault, then yeah it was but it doesn’t matter now.

Long term sobriety: Issues become beliefs.

Either I judge or love.

It takes almost absolutely nothing for me to be willing.

My world today is only limited by my own boundaries.

It’s funny how stupid smart people can be.

I’ve stuck around long enough to realize that things are not fluke.

When it comes to spiritual stuff, my mind was closed.

I don’t go anywhere where I can’t take my higher power.

A.A. has no side effects.

I cannot afford to get jaded.

12 steps are job training to sponsor people.

I learn the steps by teaching them (sponsoring) more than doing them.

There’s no God in the future, (more so in the now).

My apt. was my dungeon.

I don’t have to be that person that I thought I was.

If God brought me to it, God can bring me through it.

In sobriety, I get to have a relationship with reality.

I have a brand new relationship with life.

I grew up making decision based on outside circumstance.

I liked altering myself.

I didn’t like pot, so why did I keep smoking it?

2 guys came to me on a 12th step call, and I followed them around for the next 10 years.

Meth=I really thought I was going to die using.

I kept lowering my expectations of what getting better was.

I don’t think normal 18 year olds need to “start over”.

Ask questions follow directions.

There is no high that a drink will make higher or a low that a drink won’t make higher.

This program provides more freedom than anywhere else.

Simple program doesn’t mean it’s an easy program.

Meetings are tools.

Addiction is like spirituality but we ended up at the wrong address.

My bottom was I just didn’t want to be.

A.A. taught me I don’t have to be fixed.

Put God in one hand and A.A. in the other you can’t pick up a drink.

Step 12 = a new joy of living.

12th step encourage me to believe in the program.

My definitions of bumps in the road don’t make sense.

I can’t see what my higher power see’s.

Grown men don’t cry, growing men do.

If everyone was going to hell, would you follow?

Don’t count the days, make the days count.

Prayer equals any attempt to contact God.

In times of trouble don’t take a little nip, take a little nap instead.

I have a higher power today that I can do business with.

When I’m giving it’s healthier.

You can draw things out from the program but you have to give back, you have to eventually make a deposit.

I don’t have any laurels to rest on anymore, I’ve got to do things in this program.

A.A. can do quite well without me, but how well can I do without A.A.?

Each day is an accomplishment.

I know the difference between whiskey and water.

I came in, all I cared about was not drinking, I didn’t care about the future, I just didn’t want to go back to the past.

My God doesn’t fit in a box.

Faith = not struggling.

Re. God: At least a door knob has a function, do you?

Re. Statistics — 72.3% of statistics are made up.

If I can do it by myself, then I don’t need A.A..

If I don’t have a problem, I don’t need a solution (meaning getting sober).

A.A. is a place where people change their lives.

The only place for me to go when I got to A.A. was up.

Drugs of Drinks = I have no choices.

True happiness is not granted, it’s earned.

What I know, I learned in A.A..

Steps are the path to inner peace.

You don’t know what the gifts are until you’ve been at it awhile.

Getting sober = either death or a miracle.

Re: Belief in H.P./Step 2, I had to believe it to see it, and then I could see it.

The only time I used the word God prior to A.A. was for swearing.

What doesn’t work is being close minded.

I can’t stay sober on what it was like.

I still have sounds in my mind, so I think I’m sane (soundness of mind).

I keep coming back because I need a full tank every day.

When the alcohol stopped working, that’s when I came to visit A.A..

I want to have an age appropriate experience.

Keep it simple — get a sponsor, work the steps.

My drug of choice was thinking.

I thought Drugs/Alcohol were a good solution for loneliness.

5th Step is pretty fucking rad.

Non-negotiable recipe for success: sobriety date; sponsor; home group; commitment

I’m going to hurt you by hurting myself more.

Common problem is we want to escape our head.

It’s uncomfortable to live just feeling negative (before sober).

I had my smile back, I had hope (after getting sober).

I have to keep myself in recovery, but there needs to be a balance.

I don’t run away from shit anymore.

I worked the steps and I got better, I took other people through them and I got well.

I come to meeting’s to break out of my mind.

My intellect is my worst enemy.

Not happy? Accept it and change it.

I really cherish some of the stories…that I can remember that is.

We help others to save our life.

Feelings are like treasure, they should be buried.

Easiest way to stay in the moment is to breathe.

My alcoholism tells me that I’m separate, different, apart from and afraid.

If somebody had told me I’d be sober this long when I was new, I’d have needed a drink.

If A.A. is a social club for you, you’re going to end up with reasons to drink.

I feel that I knew when I took my last drink.

I was disciplined in certain parts of my life except when it came to drinking.

When I get drunk and things go my way, I throw a tantrum.

You don’t know how much you need God, until that’s all you are left.

Amends = change of behavior.

Dating when drinking you wake up next to someone and say “oh we are dating”.

I do the work and “it” comes to me.

Trying today to focus on being happy instead or busy.

The absence of feeling is what felt good.

A.A. is my focal point.

The only thing I’ve ever done right is stay sober and work the steps.

When things happen to me, I can be a victim or take action.

When I find the joy I ride it and enjoy it.

Clear out the clutter in my mind to hear God.

Receipt: Take suggestions, meetings, prayer.

As a kid, I learned how do chores, but had no people skills.

Serenity is being ok with where I’m at.

My weekend was longer than my week.

I was feral when I got here.

My childhood consisted of bad touch or no touch at all.

Tears are the purest form of prayer.

Acceptance doesn’t mean you have to appreciate it.

The slogans are like shorthand.

If we don’t wanna quit, we are gonna drink.

If I find myself justifying I am wrong.

We were dead, now we’re alive.

I can do anything and still be afraid, but it’s ok today.

Isn’t it great when you finally realize God is not against you?

You can never be high without coming down.

Success is not measured by accomplishments, but rather by how I feel today.

I wanted to stay trying to die (when I got to A.A.).

Observation: You people in A.A. stay sober through everything, you don’t take a break.

On adoption: “You’re father and I did not give you away so that you wld turn out like us.”

Your parents did the best they can OR your parents did the best they did.

Just because I’m sober doesn’t mean I always make sane choices.

You don’t have to drink to become a new member, just work the steps again.

I don’t have to be the best at everything, I just have to be the best I can.

I woke up this morning on the wrong side of my head.

It’s so refreshing to not have to do this alone.

I get to say yes to the right things now.

I didn’t have the “yets” but I identified with the “symptoms”.

My blanket of anxiety that I carried around with me drinking disappeared around 60 days sober.

Get sober now and save yourself from a life trying to fight it.

Sober — I can be adventurous and do it safely.

I made a decision to see how far I could push my drug envelope and it progressed.

We have feelings as adults that are appropriate for a situation (now that we are sober and working the steps).

I don’t act on my feelings anymore.

Sometimes I feel the effects of a prayer or the work I’m doing sometime, and sometimes it takes a while.

I feel fortunate I hit this program when I was ready for it.

I used to find spirituality in the darkness.

You know it’s a good topic if everyone’s done sharing before the timer goes off.

The happiness part if really simple.

I didn’t even know what A.A. was, but I hated it.

Choosing a higher power is like choosing a dance partner, I can pick whomever I want.

I drank until my friend’s took my keys and threw me in my car.

Drugs were my fast pass into A.A..

The way I used to pray was to say “whatever”.

If you understand God, you are the enlightened one (said the old-timer).

I work the steps with abandon.

I can choose to walk towards serenity or chaos.

Honesty was a foreign language to me.

The more I do things that are uncomfortable to me, the more I grow.

I drank because I felt so mediocre compared to everyone.

Desperation faded away and I would feel empowered again (when I drank).

I was drinking to stay away from my own min.

Sponsoring people is some serious insurance.

There’s like this magic show that goes on in my head (meaning my thoughts).

My job is to give you more than I got.

If you want someone to cook (recover), you’ve gotta put them in the kitchen.

I’m an addict, I can learn to adjust to any drug.

Clean, decent useful lives is our birth right.

The miracle is that we recover at all.

Don’t get to cleaned up, keep on welcoming new people.

I’d rather be here in my heart, than out there in my head.

The step’s don’t work as well when you are intoxicated.

I wanted to get sober again, but I wasn’t desperate enough and I knew it.

My concept of reality when I was using was so not there.

We tend to make it even if we don’t think we will, if we keep trying.

I used to drink when I had feelings, now I just have feelings.

My favorite drug was MORE.

I had stretches of “sobriety” when I ran out of money.

I can no longer fight my memory’s.

Meeting’s help me stay alive.

So much of my life was a reaction to a reaction.

Defects are decisions and actions that are not useful anymore.

When drinking, I started accepting unacceptable things.

Going to a meeting means I have somewhere to go tonight.

Now I respond to things rather than react to them.

I go to a lot of meetings because I feel better when I leave.

This is about us doing this together.

I thought that if I kissed a guy, that meant I was dating him.

We’re all young and weird at some point.

Sober tears are extremely powerful.

I don’t need God cause I’m right, right?

My trigger is my head

No matter how difficult today is, I won’t regret not having used tomorrow

Word’s are clear cut, feelings are not

The more A.A. I do, the better I feel

It’s important to be accountable to someone, good person for this is a sponsor

3rd step can be so simple as being willing to do the rest of the steps

If I rely on the fellowship (going to meetings), I can get threw anything.

I’m like a man that’s lived to lives (old self / new self)

I didn’t feel truly happy until I got sober

I’ve learned to think what’s in this for you VS what’s in it for me

God is as simple to me as my asking God to keep me sober today, he’s done that so for me that’s God

Over time, I’ve learned to ask why less

I have a lot of respect for the first drink

The steps help me from killing myself, traditions help me to not kill you

If I don’t work the steps, I can get the “accessories” but I don’t necessarily get better or stay sober

Drugs lead to alcohol and I drank

Solution is in the steps, book, and not in my head.

Alcohol was a personality transformer for me.

When I came to A.A., I got the idea that maybe life could be a do-over.

Everything is possible if you are sober.

There’s no defense for the truth.

Somebody gives you a life preserver, and you complain about the color? (getting sober)

A.A. = hope

I didn’t like to be around my family because they got in the way of my drinking.

No matter how much I drank (at the end) it wld not take away my pain.

A.A. will always get you through.

I need to continue to continue.

The only thing I’m an expert on are my mistakes.

Being human is difficult

There was always love in my life, I just didn’t notice it

When I got sober, I no longer had the strength to argue

It’s a waste of time to chase people to love that won’t love you

The most important thing we do here (besides the steps) is to listen to each other

I get a daily reprieve from the thinking that precedes the drinking

I didn’t believe it would work and it didn’t.

Confusion is a part of my story.

When the sun set, I didn’t know what was to happen.

My relationship was my drugs.

I know you believe in God because you are so angry at him.

The monkey’s off my back, but the circus is still in town.

My selfishness gets treated by working with sponsee’s.

I got to A.A. the day before I died.

It’s a simple program but it’s not easy to do!

I didn’t have the energy anymore to keep fighting anything.

I no longer feel separate from humanity.

All I ever wanted was to be a part of.

We all get to “grow up” together in A.A. because we all start from somewhere.

Drugs are “dry goods”.

Bring my solutions to the rooms of A.A., my problems to my sponsor.

My core beliefs are based on old idea’s.

The steps are my new booze.

3rd Step — Let Go or be dragged!

The streets are undefeated.

What A.A. has given me is everything.

The hurt is so you know it meant something.

Spending too much time with myself may be dangerous.

I learned how to stay in my own hula hoop.

If I intellectualize my God, it doesn’t work.

A great place to get drunk is a great place to get sober.

I needed a God that would still let me be shady.

A.A. = gateway drug
Sponsor = dealer to help you get the “pure” shit (steps)

Moment of clarity = this is no longer a party

I have the disease of more.

Step 3 turn over my options and see what God’s options are.

When you are going thru hell, don’t stop to set up camp (4th step).

I’m not here to impress you or oppress you.

Coincidence is God’ way of remaining anonymous.

Shame is useless, guilt may be warranted if I’ve done something wrong.

I work the steps 2 keep my spiritual lights on.

Surrender = come over to the winning side.

You can die with this disease, but you can also live.

If I say I’m good more than 4 times, I’m screwed. (“I’m fine”.

I tried 2 be Goth, but I was too happy.

I want to be more.

I’m my own expert, thanks anyway.

Million ways 2 get sober, only one way to get drunk.

Acceptance = acknowledgement not approval.

When I put A.A. 1st, my life gets so much bigger.

A.A. does not come up on my social media, but my sobriety does.

Being open on Social Media (about my sobriety) has made me available 2 talk 2 others, but I’m not a spokesman.

Expectations are resentments waiting to happen.

“When I got sober, I had the emptiness of fuck.”

“You can do any step with a 1 in front of it every day”.

“I had a lot of close calls that seemed like fun”.

“Getting sober is not about needing to have the last word”.

“As a result of the steps and long term sobriety, my inner child stays in”.

“Problem = full of shit; Solutions = steps, sponsor, stay sober”.

“Solution to the problem is there is no problem”.

“Anything that end’s wasn’t meant to be”.

“Perhaps you should try and see yourself as other’s do (self esteem)”.

“When I feel better, I don’t have to feel more”.

“Whatever I focus on will get bigger, good or bad”.

“Meetings work but they wear off fast”.

“My sponsor has an investment of love in me”.

“Sobriety is more important than not disclosing status when necessary”.

“The program is my solution”.

“I’m able to be present when I’m in a meeting”.

“GOD= Get over dogma”.

“GOD = Get out doors”.

“GOD = Go on driving”.

Sobriety is more important than NOT disclosing HIV status when necessary

Being honest helps me be accountable

A.A. is like someone saying let me hug you.

Is my life a gift or a punishment? It’s my choice.

When I do the 3rd step stuff doesn’t matter

Being sober is possible but not easy.

I chased adrenaline when I was using.

I drank for fun but I forgot about the consequences

It’s not my doctors job to remember I’m an addict, I remind him

There’s a difference between hearing stuff and doing it

If you are back (again) it’s a gift, not a given.

If you don’t like what you are hearing at a meeting, share the solution

Did you hear that noise? “What noise?”
“That was the sound of your mind closing.”

When I got sober, I stopped hating strangers

The rules DO apply to me

Best advice for a newcomer is come back tomorrow

When my feelings own me, I drink

I drank because I did not want to be me

Just the thought of using gave me relief

Everything before I got sober, everything was crazy, when I got sober it was all a clean slate

When I drink, my nose itches

Don’t let the life that A.A. gave you get in the way of your A.A. life

I always believed in a God, I was just angry at him

I don’t rely on my mind to keep me sober

I have a great blockage from my head to my heart

My life didn’t change until I actually worked the program

My experience is invaluable to me

People leave A.A. when they get what they want

You will know when it’s time to do the work again

Resting on my laurels can lead to walls going up around me

Be wary of being a slave to the process, at some point, we need to enlarge our spiritual life

I ask for God’s forgiveness for ignoring him

I can lay there and grind on my own B.S. or I can ask God for help

Relationship where I’m the only one in it, is called my “non-relationship.”

HERE START FROM

Shit = Simply How I Think

I can work towards perfection, I don’t have to be perfection

Dealing with life was not an option

SHIT=Simply Now I Think

Don’t let religion get in the way of God

Holding it together is not necessarily a good bar to set for yourself

How people reacted to my drinking:
1st time out w/me: “Oh my you’re so fun.” 2nd time: “Oh my, you’re so fun! 3rd time: “Every time?”

Drinking to not care and then waking up caring to much

If it’s rude, crude & lewd it must be chic

A.A. allows me to be openly spiritual in a non-judgmental environment.

Don’t go to the hardware store for milk, don’t ask for help from ill equipped people

Half measures avail us nothing, not something

Progress not perfection, not progress to perfection

In A.A. everybody does not have to do it the same way

The 1st 100 Alcoholics that got sober did it w/out the Big Book, their experience helped write it!

I asked for help when I did the 3rd step the 1st time, and it worked so that is a connection with God.

Word’s are clear cut, Feelings are not

At the end of my drinking, all I wanted was more

The only emotion I had at the end of my drinking was more

If you think your life is perfect, it’s not, this is A.A. and life is life

My reality is subject to change in a moment’s notice

The solution has nothing to do with the problem

Now when I’m uncomfortable, I can raise my hand and talk about it

I can work towards perfection, I don’t have to be it

If you can make it off crystal meth, you can do anything

Negativity always brings me back to God

I began drinking as a gentlemen, but I never ended up there

Be grateful for the tiny things and give up material things.

If I do nothing, I’ll get noting

I can only see 10ft in front of me, and I need to remember to dream farther than I can see

I’d rather have the good and the bad (of being sober) than just the bad

I had to give up blame to stay sober

The first thing we get back is our intuition

I can’t see me but I can see you

I had planned to not drink, I had been taught that as a kid (DARE program) so I passed on the bottle awhile, but when the meth pipe was passed I said “sure”.

I didn’t like or need umbrella’s in my cup

Greatest thing I’ve ever been given was the gift of hope

Once I gave myself self esteem, I realized you can’t take that from me

Most important prayers I say are “thank you” & “help me”.

Name them, claim them, dump them = character defects

Put down the bat and pick up the feather

There’s no wrong way to go to an A.A. meeting

My brain sometimes feels like it’s not on my side.

Step 3 = turn over to the care, not turn over to the judgment of

The best way to feel when you get sober is as if you’ve lost your soul

I’m gonna die anyway, I might as well be sober

I reached bottom when I stopped drinking

When you ask God for help to get sober, it doesn’t matter what you say just that you’re sincere

It’s more important for me to be what I am (Alcoholic or Addict) rather than who I am

Steps = Cleansing Of The Soul

Lose hope to get hope

Lose power to get power

Can’t change my attitude, thinking, etc. need to take action

My “what it was like” stays the same as long as I stay sober

Sober I have found that I do have the capacity to be honest

Alcohol held the secret to being a person

My Alcoholism didn’t want me to die, it wanted me to be alone

What was freely given to me, I was not taking (when I could not/did not stay sober)

It’s our actions that define our lives

10% of Life is Life
90% is thinking

Love is a verb, we have to do something with it

I have Acute, Postponement — I don’t do anything

If we didn’t welcome the newcomer they may not come back

Wellness can be a delusion

Ego always needs an audience, self esteem does not.

Acceptance does not mean approval

God = Grace Over Drama

Willing without action is futile

Step 10 — I am wrong not I’m sorry

Living today is the only way to have a life

My change can be constructive, it’s my choice

I never want to forget how A.A. made me feel when I was new

A good lay is great but you can’t do it 24 hours a day

You know how to stop struggling? You stop struggling!

A.A. is looking for volunteers to develop a new life

I never stole anything, I found a lot

Keep coming back until A.A. drops down into your heart

Sponsor’s never lose patience with you (generally)

Patience, compassion, experience = Old Timers when I was new

Don’t run from A.A., it’s here to help you

Powerless over compassion and love until I’m not

I had a God shaped hole in my soul

RPM = Rise Pee & Meditate

If you don’t know what to do, wash your dishes

Sincere people VS desperate, sincere people may not stay

Can you do more in A.A.? Ask yourself this and then take action.

Letting go of the dark is sobriety

You spot it you got it

Coming back is a gift, not a given

There are no roll over’s (meetings) in A.A., I get what I put into it

Part of A.A. is accepting the love of my parents, (they did the best they could)

After my first drunk, all my self consciousness went away

Failure to plan is planning to fail

Fear is a dark room where pictures are developed

Don’t confuse God’s grace with your luck

My parents loved me, I just didn’t realize it

It’s important for me to ask clearly for what I need

It’s important to “lean in” to A.A.

If I live alone, I live with crazy people, I do better living with people

Sobriety works when serenity meets willingness

Social connections weren’t sexual or intimate they were chemical

Courtesy, Kindness, Justice & Love = the fabric of recovery

I’m always at risk of being human (mental health, super depressed or super manic)

I didn’t get sick overnight we don’t get well overnight

I don’t get an academy award for staying sober, I get sober

Good relationship was like “come here, go away” which was like catnip to me at that time

If I don’t drink, that is 51% off life

The readings in a meeting are my flight instructions, they help get me present in the meeting that I’m in

After 72 hours I need a meeting because otherwise my thinking starts to take over

Meditation is an opportunity to witness what’s around me.

Being present helps me see the world in an authentic way

Willing doesn’t mean wanting

I got my feelings back since getting sober, so if I cry, I cry

I tried to run before I learned to crawl

Sobriety equals the “texture” of life

Sometimes I wander into the shrubbery

Boston = Be of service to others now

Having been sober before when I came I wanted to want to stay sober

Anniversary celebrates when I had no more no in me

Acceptance does not mean approval

I’m really in this “compare and despair” mode right now.

My “baseline gratitude”…

Alanon has the same 12 Steps but with a boundary twist

My will feels good now and bad later on. God’s will feels bad now and good later on.