LifeRing

Support for staying clean and sober the LifeRing way

Rick F.
  • Male
  • Lafayette, CA
  • United States
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Rick F.'s Discussions

I'm new!

Bob -- The good news is that, as I've come to know people in the meetings I'm attending these days, my lifelong wariness about such things seems to be abating. This is probably a good thing...

Replied Nov 13

I'm new!

Actually, I think that, even in so egalitarian and democratic a setup as LifeRing, one probably is less self-revealing as a convener than as an ordinary attendee -- what John Keegan called "the mas...

Replied Nov 11

I'm new!

I think we all have to take some degree of responsibility for the availability of LiFeRoing F2F meetings in our communities. I'm comparitely lucky to live in northern California, but, still, I am a...

Replied Nov 10

Triggers, and how to avoid them.

I think it's important to recognize how "primitive" the parts of the brain are in which "triggers" live. I recently read an article on the phenomenon of conditioned desire, which seems to play a ma...

Replied Nov 10

 

Rick F.'s Page

Latest Activity

on Tuesday
November 23
November 23
Be welcome back! None of us can foretell the future, but, while we do not have control, we have influence -- the middle ground that Buchmanism seems to neglect. I rejoice in the influence you have had, and the luck it has brought. May all of our h...
November 23
November 23
November 23
Rick F. updated their profile
November 18
November 18
Rick F. and Nucular Scientist are now friends
November 16
November 14
Bob -- The good news is that, as I've come to know people in the meetings I'm attending these days, my lifelong wariness about such things seems to be abating. This is probably a good thing...
November 12
Actually, I think that, even in so egalitarian and democratic a setup as LifeRing, one probably is less self-revealing as a convener than as an ordinary attendee -- what John Keegan called "the mask of command," even though no more "command" is go...
November 11
I think we all have to take some degree of responsibility for the availability of LiFeRoing F2F meetings in our communities. I'm comparitely lucky to live in northern California, but, still, I am awaiting that magic 6-month point where I can serve...
November 10
I think it's important to recognize how "primitive" the parts of the brain are in which "triggers" live. I recently read an article on the phenomenon of conditioned desire, which seems to play a major part in evoking the impulses we need to contro...
November 10
Thank you for the compliment! From what I have seen, the principal risk that arises for newcomers to AA is what Jung called enantiodromia -- the dramatic conversion experience, the "snapping" from one extreme set of perspectives to an opposite and...
November 10
You are not a freak. I am going through recovery (day 39 from alcohol) at the same time that my marriage is coming apart. My wife is 65 and my daughter is 27 -- they should be able to handle this -- but I wonder how our animals will handle my sudd...
November 9

Profile Information

Hometown:
Lafayette, CA
Relationship Status:
Married
How long clean and sober
47 days
About Me:
Software engineer, aged 62. I get into trouble when unemployed. Things being as they are, I may never work in my profession again. Have made several attempts at staying sober, starting in 1989, some lasting for years. But vulnerability to circumstance has betrayed me many times.
Looking for?
A support community that doesn't run afoul of my apparent inability to believe in absurdities on command, even when I acknowledge I might be better off if I could believe in them... and, for the longer term, some techniques that will help keep me sober when I'm deprived -- temporarily or permanently -- from the satisfactions of the work that I love. I can fill the hole with other interests, but too many of those interests are solitary pursuits, and isolation has been an issue for me.

Rick F.'s Blog

Rick F.

An Election Day surprise

Just got back from voting in today's special election in our congressional district. Went in, gave name and address, got ballot, marked same, deposited same in ballot box, collected my "I Voted" sticker. Fellow minding the ballot box said that showing my sticker at the Roundup Saloon, a local watering hole, would get me a free beer. I grinned, remarked that it was an interesting concept...

Posted on November 3, 2009 at 3:43pm — 2 Comments

Rick F.

Trying something different

As of Monday I'm going to be out of the seven-day-a-week, mostly-all-day phase of an outpatient treatment program -- fortunately in a LifeRing-friendly facility. The next phase places far fewer demands on my time, and so I've been thinking in terms of what I could do to avoid what has to be a significant risk of relapse. I've talked about the depression/isolation/alcohol vicious circle I'm vulnerable to when I'm not working in the field I enjoy, and how I'm planning on getting acquainted with th… Continue

Posted on October 24, 2009 at 1:01pm — 11 Comments

Rick F.

Interesting sighting

On my way back from the hardware store a couple of hours ago -- I needed to replace a leaking pressure relief valve on the water heater -- I found myself behind a nice forest-green Cadillac with the 32-valve Northstar engine.

Its rear license plate frame read "DETOX IS A SOBERING EXPERIENCE."

Posted on October 18, 2009 at 6:19pm — 3 Comments

Rick F.

An unsettling experience

Thursday I shared my personal history at a meeting -- not, incidentally, LifeRing. I began by saying, up front, that because I spent about eight years, owing to childhood illness, not being able to do anything particularly well but read, that is what I did -- and that, in consequence, my "natve language" is closer to written English than the spoken vernacular. I explained that this was just the way it is, and nobody should infer that I was trying to high-hat anybody.

That story covered a lot of… Continue

Posted on October 16, 2009 at 7:23pm — 17 Comments

Comment Wall (5 comments)

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At 7:29am on November 24, 2009, danaflett said…
Wishing you a nice day Rick.
At 10:25am on November 23, 2009, danaflett said…
Hi Rick it's always great too hear from you i enjoy reading your knowledge,maybe it's a blessing we dont know what the future holds,i think i'd rather not know,thankyou again fo your comments.x
At 10:01am on November 23, 2009, danaflett said…
Hey Rick hope your havin a nice day.
At 9:07am on November 14, 2009, Nucular Scientist said…
Thanks, Rick. I'm brand new to all of this and didn't have much time last week but hope to dive in. It does feel good to be with people who don't say, "Well, just don't {fill in the blank.}" Wow! Why didn't I think of that??? :)
At 9:15pm on October 4, 2009, SocraticGadfly said…
Didn't realize you were new here. Welcome, and where exactly is Lafayette? I know where Lafayette, Louisiana is.
 
 

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