just moved into a sober house

[TheGame985]

Hi guys thanks for reading I'll just get to it. I just moved into a sober house and I really really want to do the right thing and get my act together right now, no more procrastinating I'm ready to surrender to my disease and I'm reachingng out for help in any way I can get it.

I've been going to meetings since I started living here which has been about a month. I get random testing since I'm a known opiate addict and this is my last change to get my family and my life back.

My problem is that I still get that voice that tells me to go buy a bag even though I'm broke and owe rent. I cheated this week and want advice ongetting a few days of sobriety under my belt so I can start to function better and with a clearer head.

Please give me any advice possible that would help me through this first week because I really want to do the right thing. I read I write in a journal I go to meetings I try to vent to my roommates but I need some pointers from the veterans of the battle. Thank you so much

 

[cashmunny]

Talk about that stuff in meeting. Share about it before you use. It's perfectly normal, we are addicts we want to get loaded. You don't have to share that you messed up, just say that you really want to get loaded all the time and your head is telling you to go score. And keep doing that in every meeting. If you keep that stuff locked up inside it will own you. But if you talk about it, it loses it's power.

Also, think it through. Don't just think about scoring and getting high and how good it will feel. Think about coming down. Think about how you'll feel then. Think it through all the way to the end, all the consequences you'll face.

And get a sponsor and call him.

 

[TheGame985]

Thank you so much it means a lot it really does. I want to get better. I want to have nice stuff again I want to be able to have money in my pocket. Like today I went and bought a new case for my phone and it was expensive line 60 dollars but I thought about how ill go through 100 bucks in a day and not really think too much about that. But the phone case will last me a year or more maybe.

You're absolutely right though. I need to consider the coming down more than just that high that is short lived or sometimes I won't get high I'll just get well as they say.

Thanks again. God bless

 

[caseface99]

I live in an SLE myself here in Berkeley. It's fuckin' awesome. My recovery is stronger 10 fold since moving in here. Be honest with your house mates - If your having a hard time, let people know. They can only support you if you're honest. If Your craving level is at a point of imminent use, DONT LEAVE the house and let someone know. Get service commitments at meetings. Work the steps with a sponsor who you talk to regularly. Be honest, be open minded, and be willing to take any and all suggestions your sponsor gives you to heart. I tried this thing for years, and this is the first time I've ever strung together over 2 months, and also the first time I've ever worked with a sponsor and taken suggestions.

Good luck bro! We love you, Stay strong and keep it simple.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

Get as many number as you can from all the meetings you attend. Call those people. Hang out with them. If you talk to them when you don't have cravings, it should be easier to call them when you do.

 

[TheGame985]

I live in an SLE myself here in Berkeley. It's fuckin' awesome. My recovery is stronger 10 fold since moving in here. Be honest with your house mates - If your having a hard time, let people know. They can only support you if you're honest. If Your craving level is at a point of imminent use, DONT LEAVE the house and let someone know. Get service commitments at meetings. Work the steps with a sponsor who you talk to regularly. Be honest, be open minded, and be willing to take any and all suggestions your sponsor gives you to heart. I tried this thing for years, and this is the first time I've ever strung together over 2 months, and also the first time I've ever worked with a sponsor and taken suggestions.

Good luck bro! We love you, Stay strong and keep it simple.

Thank you very much for the kind words and the words of wisdom,I will absolutely take your words to heart and even though as addicts we're all a part of a group that no one wants to be associated with,I have certainly found that people in recovery are some of the most warm hearted and helpful people I have ever come in contact with. Although this experience hasn't been easy, in the past month I have been more productive and grown more than probably the past year combined. I just still get hardcore cravings and need all the advice I can get.

I'll write in my recovery notebook every day and go to meetings a few times per week but really really want to succeed in recovery because I've already screwed up many many times while living at home and this is the best place for me right now.

Please keep the words of advice coming they really help me. I come to this site several times per day and I'm always looking to learn more and hear what's worked for other people in the early stages of their recovery because I'm only in the first month and I never want to live that nightmare again. I have credit card problems, I'm living paycheck to paycheck and just want to make up for lost time.

 

[caseface99]

Keep doing the next right thing, going to meetings, working the steps, etc. - And good things will happen. I can't explain it, but it really works.

As mentioned, practice calling people. Get a phone list at a meeting. You may feel awkward calling random people, but trust me - anyone in recovery would be THRILLED to get a phone call from a new comer, even if it's just a quick "hey, hows it going" type conversation. If you think it's weird to make a call when you aren't slipping, imagine picking up the 3000pound phone when your thinking about using...

 

[itsALLfake]

Good luck to you, but if you have problems readjusting to society standards, you might want to try transitional first. Sober living gives you far more freedom than transitional living situations. It's not inpatient, but it makes you get out of the house. The place I went to was pretty cheap out of pocket for what I would do. The second week I was there, I went snowboarding. I did AA there, but it's the same thing. Everyone in the town was a drug user practically, and it was all AA pretty much, little HA.

Find a good sponsor. If I didn't meet the guy I met in AZ, I wouldn't have gone about recovery the same way. I'm not going to meetings anymore or reworking the steps, but I'm glad I was involved for the beginning of my sober time. They're really helpful for getting you socially integrated. I was forced to go to meetings, one at 600, one at 1200, and group at 1700. I didn't like them at first, but they began to be what I looked forward to during the day. I ended up going to extra meetings through out the week, but the majority of people in recovery were young people..so had a good deal to do with it.

Don't become a clone from the program though. Speak from your heart, always. Solution isn't something scripted before you share. Once you get to the point to where you don't always have to just "let things out," take what you've learned from your life and the program and tie it together. Nothing gets to me more is the same speeches in different meetings I would go to in my town. Plus, when you can dumb down/add metaphor to the big book more for new comers, they'll get more out of it, and people really start sharing the same way they learned when they came in to the program.

Good luck! And find out what you can do for fun. That's the hardest thing I really had to face.