First things first

I'm going into a crazy two weeks.  I don't quite know how I will make it to as many meetings that I need to. 

Sometimes it feels like being an alcoholic pony is too much work.

Stressed!

I'm really good at forgetting about how I have always taken care of through ever trying time in my life.  I have a upcoming event that is very important to me.  I have so much to organize and put together.  I want it to be perfect (of course).  I want everypony to love it.

This is not realistic.

If I show up and do my best I'm not responsible for the results. Almost always it turns out better than I imagined. 

Thank Celestia I have everypony in my life that I do. Thank Celestia I have this place to write down my thoughts and see it in black and white.

Thank Celestia I have some gratitude for the opportunities I have in my life. I'm still nervous, but I'll get through it.

Getting Better

My hooves are starting to get a little better with this drawing thing. I hope you like my next self portrait.

I think I have to do some of my friends soon.

P.S. I wouldn't be able to do this if I wasn't sober.
I am sooooo grateful!

Celestia as Guide

See to it that your relationship with Her is right, and great events will come to pass for you and countless others. This is the Great Fact for us.

 —ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 164

 Having a right relationship with Celestia seemed to be an impossible order. My chaotic past had left me filled with guilt and remorse and I wondered how this "God business" could work. A.A. told me that I must turn my will and my life over to the care of God, as I understand Her. With nowhere else to turn, I went down on my knees and cried, "Celestia, I can't do this. Please help me!" It was when I admitted my powerlessness that a glimmer of light began to touch my soul, and then a willingness emerged to let God control my life. With Her as my guide, great events began to happen, and I found the beginning of sobriety.

From the book Daily Reflections

© Copyright 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc

Image Credit to mysticalpha at deviantArt

Progress, Not Perfection

So I got me a nifty new drawing gizmo. 

I have always been afraid of drawing for some reason. Maybe I didn't want to waste paper, or do it "wrong" or some such.

Well, here is my second drawing. It's a self portrait! I hope everypony likes it.

A new freedom and a new happiness

We are given certain promises if we "thoroughly follow this simple program. "
One of the is that we will know a "new freedom and a new happiness."
I have seen this promise come true in many ponies lives as the work the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. I have also seen it come true in my life. 
Being able to write this blog and participate with my fellow ponies is a direct consequence of working the program and having an amazing network of ponies around me.
I am able to be inspired! I have never written before in my life. I have never drawn before in my life.  I am so grateful for the program and the ponies around me. Participating in Equestrian is beyond my wildest dreams!

Image credit goes to Silentmatten at deviantArt

We stand or fall together

WE STAND—OR FALL—TOGETHER

. . . no society of mares and stallions ever had a more urgent need for continuous effectiveness and permanent unity. We alcoholics see that we must work together and hang together, else most of us will finally die alone.

—ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 561

Just as the Twelve Steps of A.A. are written in a specific sequence for a reason, so it is with the Twelve Traditions. The First Step and the First Tradition attempt to instill in me enough humility to allow me a chance at survival. Together they are the basic foundation upon which the Steps and Traditions that follow are built. It is a process of ego deflation which allows me to grow as an individual through the Steps, and as a contributing member of a group through the Traditions. Full acceptance of the First Tradition allows me to set aside personal ambitions, fears and anger when they are in conflict with the common good, thus permitting me to work with others for our mutual survival. Without Tradition One I stand little chance of maintaining the unity required to work with others effectively, and I also stand to lose the remaining Traditions, the Fellowship, and my life.

From the book Daily Reflections

© Copyright 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.

Looking for Other Sober Ponies!

If you are a sober pony and would like to contribute to this blog, please let me know! We need more stories and viewpoints!

Please use the contact form on the sidebar of the page to drop me a line!

Thanks,
Sans

A New Life

Yes, there is a substitute and it is vastly more than that. It is a fellowship in Alcoholics Anonymous... Life will mean something at last.

— ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 152

Life is better without alcohol. A.A. and the presence of a Higher Power keeps me sober, but the grace of God does even better; it brings service into my life. Contact with the A.A. program teaches me a new and greater understanding of what Alcoholics Anonymous is and what it does, but most importantly, it helps to show me who I am: an alcoholic who needs the constant experience of the Alcoholics Anonymous program so that I may live a life given to me by my Higher Power.

 From the book Daily Reflections

©Copyright 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.

Daily Reflections

So there's this book that we have AA called Daily Reflections. They are just little passages that help us Sober Ponies get through the day sober or learn a little about ourselves.

I personally need a little something to keep me writing every day so I am considering a series based on them. Let see how it goes.

Miserable enough to Change

There are not many ponies in recovery that just walked into AA and said, "I think I might be on the edge of developing a problem." Most of us came into AA because we had hit a bottom where the only choices were death or life.
A bottom finally lets us surrender. We become willing to listen to a suggestion.
I have had bottoms while using and bottoms in sobriety. Bottoms have occurred because I tried to control all aspects of my life, everypony else's life and every aspect of Celestia's creation. It didn't work out too well...

Recently, I had really slowed down on going to meetings. Every day I was complaining about what a sad little pony I was. I wasn't talking to other ponies with this disease. I wasn't praying to Celestia to do her will and only her will.
I was miserable. Enough to be getting close to picking up again. Celestia intervened in my life again. I bumped into my sponsor, who I had been avoiding. When she saw me she just put her hooves to my face and said "I was so worried about you."
I just cried.
She asked me to breakfast the next day. During our meal she put it to me bluntly.
"Are you willing to go to any lengths to stay sober?"
"No," I said.
I though about how my life had changed so much since I became a sober pony. Everything I had was because of this program. I was being offered the gift again.
I said, "Yes"
I finally was able to listen to a suggestion.

New Friends

^ How I felt the other day!

I went to a meet-up of ponies this week that wasn't AA related. We all shared a passion for a certain series about a group of six ponies.
I was so nervous. I couldn't sleep the night before.
Most of the time I consider myself a pretty with-it guy.
My style is reasonably fashionable. I can have great conversation about almost any topic. I read the Manehattan Times every day! I have a great mane-do.
It a facade.
The only place I've ever felt I didn't have to maintain an illusion is in an AA meeting.
These ponies really get me. They have struggled with the same exact disease that I have. I don't always identify with the facts of each pony's story but I always understand the feelings.
I went to this meet-up and felt comfortable. I was just myself. Nervous, but myself.
I was able to talk about some of the core things of my makeup that I edit when talking to other people. Even other AAers. Like my love of computers and video games and reading and art, and so on! I was immediately accepted. Wow.
There is another get-together later this month. It is a much larger slice of this community. I'm still kinda nervous but it is more anticipation than worry.
Friendship is truly magic.

Posting Ponies

"And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing or situation -- some fact of my life -- unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment."

— Alcoholics Anonymous 4th ed. p.117

If I remember that passage above I have a chance to have a good day. 

It also applies to myself. 

So I didn't put hoof to keyboard for the past three days.

I was starting to feel bad about it. Then I don't want to write because I didn't write, and so on.  

Progress not perfection. 
I'm just happy to be a sober pony today.

Fellowship is Magic

I went to my regular Saturday night meeting last night. It was crowded and lacking in fresh oxygen but I was able to sit next to a good friend.
Friendship is one of the amazing magical things that getting sober has given me.
In the program we usually call it fellowship.
I didn't know what it meant before I got sober. I had my friends in AA show it to me. Now I have friends all over Manehattan who I can share the magic if fellowship and friendship.
When I have been angry, lonely or agitated I have been able to call somepony that understands what I'm feeling at that moment.