Good afternoon!  My name is Lauren, and I'm a grateful, recovering alcoholic/addict.  Quitting drinking or using is just the beginning.  After that is when the real work begins.  That's when you change your life.  I had to replace the time I spent drinking or using with positve things, family, AA, and church.  Instead of sitting in a bar or in my room by myself drinking, I needed to be with people that cared about me, people that were going to help hold me accountable, people that understood me, people that loved me.  I did what I needed to do to keep me sober.  I had to change people, places and things.  I had to change who I hung out with, where I hung out at, how I drove to work, where I got gas at, whose phone numbers were in my phone, lots of little things.  But now looking back, it wasn't that bad, it was the best thing I could have done, it needed done.  I needed to take care of me, and my family.  It was hard at first, change, thinking, I'm losing all these things, but I didn't realize all the things I would gain. I just have to keep myself in check, because my addiction is still there, doing push-ups in the back of my head, waiting for me to have a lapse in judgment for 1 second, and I will be right back where I was.  So I just need to keep doing the next right thing.  That's all I have for today.  Have a great one!

Good morning!  My name is Lauren, and I'm a grateful, recovering alcholic/addict.  "But for the grace of God" is a quote we hear a lot in AA, but it was also something I heard a lot growing up in church.  God's grace is such an undescribable thing.  We don't deserve it, we will never be able to earn it.  It is so amazing. We have to let go of ego too to realize it, we are not doing it alone.  We have to trust in God.  The grace of God carried me through my addiction most of the time. I don't think if I would have made it without Him.  He saved me and brought me to where I am today, a happy, sober, loving, Christian, wife, and mother.  Only by the grace of God.  The free gift, undeserved, unmerited, unearned, favor of God.  That's all I have for today.  Have a great one!

Good morning!  My name is Lauren, and I'm a grateful, recovering alcoholic/addict.  When we make mistakes in life, and we all make mistakes, as long as we learn something from them, it wasn't a wasted experience.  The insanity comes in when we keep making the same mistake over and over again and don't learn from it.  If we don't learn from our failures we will never change.  Henry Ford said, "Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently."  So we get a second chance, or a third, or forth.  But as long as we get up and keep trying, a different way, not the same way that didn't work before.  This can go for anything in life.  Just get up and try again.  That's all I have for today.  Have a great one! Oh!  By the way.  Yesterday, I said check out my books to the right.  Someone mentioned to me they didn't see them.  If you are reading this on a phone, not a computer, scroll ALL the way to the bottom of page.  Sorry.  I like to see comments, so feel free to leave them.  :)

Good morning!  My name is Lauren, and I'm a grateful, recovering alcoholic/addict.  Action is better than words.  I could tell everyone all day long that I was going to get and stay sober, but until I actually did it and stayed it for a while and showed people I could do it was it going to prove anything.  Another saying is, "You can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?"  It is so true.  People can talk you up one side and down the other, but one they get out into the real world they have no idea what is going on.  Actions speak louder than words.  Sometimes it's just better to shut up and start working.  So I said I'm gonna get sober, and earn your trust back, and earn back your respect, instead of just telling you I'm gonna do it, and that's I did and am doing, every day. So I just gotta keep working it! That's all I have for today!  Have a great one! Also, check out my book on the side, to the right, you can get them on amazon or on this site!  If you get them on this site, under store, I will sign it!  :) Thanks!

Good afternoon!  My name is Lauren, and I'm a grateful, recovering alcoholic/addict.  When I have a bad attitude things around me don't go as smoothly.  But when I have a good, or positive attitude, things seem to go a little better.  Actually a lot better.  It pretty much sets the mood for the day.  If I start off my day on the wrong foot or with a negative attitude, I know it's going to be a long day.  I just need to get it in check or it is just going to stay that way.  For me, praying always helps.  Giving my troubles to God, relieves me of a little pressure.  Knowing that I don't have to do it alone is always a big help.  Sometimes talking to someone else helps too. But not letting the negativity creep in is huge.  Because once that gets in, it tries to stay, and make it self comfortable.  And then it doesn't want to leave.  So don't let it in.  You have to stay positive.  That's all I have for today.  Have a great one!

Good afternoon!  My name is Lauren, and I'm a grateful, recovering alcoholic/addict.  I saw this quote and thought WOW.  It is so true, but a lot of people don't see it, or maybe don't care to see it.  All they see is that it's legal so it's ok.  The government says I can, so it's good for me, or at least ok for me. But the other thing is, some people have no discretion or rationality of what the legal quantities are, and go overboard all the time.  We don't really understand how much damage we are doing to ourselves, until it is too late, or almost too late.  Our culture sells it, like its candy, fun and without consequences.  Until recently, when the police or treatment centers have shown what the other side is like too. But not enough people really see that.  Not enough people see the real destruction it can and does cause.  That's all for today.  Have a great one!

Good afternoon!  My name is Lauren, and I'm a grateful, recovering alcoholic/addict.  I had been to counselors, many people had tried talking to me, pastors had prayed for me, my parents and husband had threatened me, I had beaten myself up, but I hadn't been locked up...yet, I have learned there are always yets in life.  I wasn't going to stop drinking until I WANTED to.  I had to get to MY bottom, whatever it may be, physical, emotional, spiritual.  It had to be my bottom.  It's interesting to listen to people in the meetings to hear the different "bottoms" people hit. Some people lost everything but their job.  They lost their family, got divorced, got DUI's but still had their job, and that was their bottom.  Some people it was a spiritual bottom, they just drank a lot, didn't lose anything material, but were spiritually bankrupt.  But this quote can be taken another way if you are not an alcocholic too.  If you are trying to change anything, lose weight, your attitude, anything.  NO ONE else can make you do it, only you.  You have to want to do it.  You will have support there when you make the decision to do it, and find people to hold you accountable if you want to stay that way. To make any change yagottawanna.  That's all I have for today.  Have a great one!

Good afternoon!  My name is Lauren, and I'm a grateful, recovering alcoholic/addict.  There are so many things in life that I can't change, but there are some that I can. I only have two choices in life, and that is to accept the things that I can't change, or change the ones I can.  I really like the part of this quote that says "accept the responsibility" for changing them, because it is a responsibility.  A big responsibility.  To be completely honest, it has been a very frustrating day.  But a lot of it is out of my control.  I have to accept that everything that has happened today was out of my control, and that there was nothing that I could do about it.  All I can do it take a deep breath, and hope for the best, actually I can pray.  So I think that's just what I'll do.  That's all for today.  Have a great one!

Good afternoon!  My name is Lauren, and I'm a grateful, recovering alcoholic/addict.  When I first saw this quote I had to read it a few times before I really understood it, but I really liked it.  Here it is explained a little simpler. Putting my spiritual practice into my whole life is what leads to emotional sobriety.  And what is emotional sobriety? Accoriding to SoberNation, emotional sobriety is "being able to deal wth strong feelings without resorting to addictive, compulsive, or destructive behaviors."  In one of today's readings it said, "Real sobriety is emotional sobriety." (from Walk in Dry Places) And it is so true, because if I'm not, I'm just a dry drunk, and that's emotionally unhealthy. Learning new ways to deal with feelings is important.  Having a good support system is also, but being mindful, and not "future-tripping", is too.  But I really believe my spiritual mindset and daily practice is what is all comes down to. That's all I have for today.  Have a great one!

Good afternoon!  My name is Lauren, and I'm a grateful, recovering alcoholic/addict.  Today I celebrate 2 years clean and sober! But all I have is today!  All I have is daily reprieve contingent on my relationship with my God.  When I start to build up the wall between me and Him, or stop going to meetings, or start making excuses, that's my disease getting in the way and I can't ever let that happen again.  Because once it gets it's foot in the door, it will take over my life in a second.  I will never be cured and I'm not promised tomorrow, so all I have is today, so I will celebrate today!  YOU can celebrate today today!  One thing I have learned in sobriety is that I am not in control and every day I must turn my life over to Him, and give Him the steering wheel.  It's easier said that done, but God's will be done. That's all for today!  Have a great one!