Volume 22 | Issue 01        Web version

  Anonymous Times

Published by North Orange County InterGroup Association of Alcoholics Anonymous Groups, Inc.

(714) 773-HELP

 1661 E. Chapman Avenue, Suite 1H

Fullerton, CA 92831

www.aanoc.org 

Have you answered the call?

What is Sobriety?

Sobriety is a Long Journey with Many Potential Pitfalls

Keep Away from Drinking

Build Motivation to Lead a Meaningful Life

Be True to Yourself

Find Your Inner Peace

Learn That You Are Vulnerable

Learn How to Share Your Recovery Story

What is Sobriety?

You have probably heard the term sobriety over and over again. So, what is sobriety? Is it abstaining from using intoxicating substances, or is it something deeper than that?

We have all been involved in situations that do not please us or the people around us. We may have tried to overcome them, but sometimes, we keep returning to the same unpleasant actions, behaviors, or activities. Sobriety is the opposite of that. Sobriety is not being at war with something unpleasant. Yet, it is also not pursuing the pleasant and heartfelt. Instead, sobriety involves gaining self-control and finding an inner freedom from things that can rob purpose in life.

Sobriety does not only apply to drug and alcohol addiction. It can also involve addressing other factors that can harm the healthy self-will we need in our lives. It may be avoiding the candy, soft drinks, or potato chips that you crave, it may be fighting the procrastination that threatens to create a backlog of work on your desk, or it might involve other sorts of potentially harmful behavior.

If you are recovering from drug addiction or alcohol abuse, sobriety does not only mean staying clear of drinking or using drugs. Sobriety is much more complex and defines how you feel about yourself and who you are. If you are sober, you have a better chance of finding peace with yourself and others, enjoying life, and creating a sense of balance in everything you do.

Sobriety Is a Long Journey with Many Potential Pitfalls

Finding sobriety after a period of alcohol and drug abuse can come with many hurdles. Things might progress smoothly one moment, but the next minute, you might plunge into the same unhealthy behaviors. We sometimes underestimate the power of cravings when it comes to recovering from addiction. Cravings can keep pulling us back to lives we do not want to live, and sometimes, the cravings can be so devastating that it can be difficult to make the slightest steps forward to freedom and a life free from drugs or alcohol.

Seeking sobriety can be a tall order, especially in the beginning. Even when you make it through the initial stages of recovery, your hard work is not over and your days will not be full of rainbows and sunshine. Maybe things might be more manageable, but it does not mean that you will smoothly glide through recovery thereafter.

Early in recovery, you may feel so bold that you think you are invincible and that your drinking problem has gone forever. While it is important to feel confident and comfortable in your sobriety, it is also important to remember that you might not completely be free from alcohol- or drug-related problems.

Sobriety is a journey. It is a process. Without learning how to fall and bounce back, you could find yourself with much bigger problems. If you practice recovery tactics, sobriety might evolve more naturally in your life. If someone offers you a drink or drug, you might reach the point where you are able to say, “No, thank you.” That response can be natural and can come from deep down in your heart because you realize that drinking is no longer a part of you.

It is important to develop and nurture the discipline it takes to abstain and remain sober. So, how do you become sober and control addiction for the rest of your life?

STEP 1

"We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable."

TRADITION 1

Each member of Alcoholics Anonymous is but a small part of a great whole.  A.A. must continue to live or most of us will surely die.  Hence our common welfare comes first.  But individual welfare follows close afterward.

CONCEPT 1

The final responsibility and ultimate authority for A.A. world services should always reside in the collective conscience of our whole Fellowship.

The Disease Concept:

How Do You Justify Calling Alcoholism An Illness?

Early in A.A.'s history, very natural questions arose among theologians. There was a Mr. Henry Link who had written "The Return to Religion (Macmillan Co., 1937). One day I received a call from him. He stated that he strongly objected to the A.A. position that alcoholism was an illness. This concept, he felt, removed moral responsibility from alcoholics. He had been voicing this complaint about psychiatrists in the American Mercury. And now, he stated, he was about to lambaste A.A. too. Of course, I made haste to point out that we A.A.'s did not use the concept of sickness to absolve our members from moral responsibility. On the contrary, we used the fact of fatal illness to clamp the heaviest kind of moral responsibility on to the sufferer. The further point was made that in his early days of drinking the alcoholic often was no doubt guilty of irresponsibility and gluttony. But once the time of compulsive drinking, veritable lunacy had arrived and he couldn't very well be held accountable for his conduct. He then had a lunacy which condemned him to drink, in spite of all he could do; he had developed a bodily sensitivity to alcohol that guaranteed his final madness and death. When this state of affairs was pointed out to him, he was placed immediately under the heaviest kind of pressure to accept A.A.'s moral and spiritual program of regeneration - namely, our Twelve Steps. Fortunately, Mr. Link was satisfied with this view of the use that we were making of the alcoholic's illness. I am glad to report that nearly all theologians who have since thought about this matter have also agreed with that early position. While it is most obvious that free will in the matter of alcohol has virtually disappeared in most cases, we A.A.'s do point out that plenty of free will is left in other areas, It certainly takes a large amount of willingness, and a great exertion of the will to accept and practice the A.A. program. It is by this very exertion of the will that the alcoholic corresponds with the grace by which his drinking obsession can be expelled.

(Bill W., N.C.C.A. 'Blue Book', Vol.12, 1960)

Wes M.* - Chairman of the Board

Mark E. - Alternate Chairman

Cheryle D. - Treasurer

Christina W. - Secretary

Randy L.* - Outreach Committee

Paul S.* - Outreach Committee

Don H. - Events Committee

Scott N.* (alternate) - Events Committee

* Live email links embedded as permitted by NOCCO Service Board members

These articles appeared in the main Cleveland newspaper, the Plain Dealer, just five months after the first A.A. group was formed in Cleveland. The articles resulted in hundreds of calls for help from suffering alcoholics who reached out for the hope that the fledgling Alcoholics Anonymous offered.

The thirteen reliable members of the Cleveland group handled as many as 500 calls in the first month following the appearance of Davis’ articles. The following year Cleveland could boast 20 to 30 groups with hundreds of members.

Alcoholics Anonymous Makes Its Stand Here
by ELRICK B. DAVIS
October 25, 1939 Cleveland Plain Dealer

In three previous articles, Mr. Davis has told of Alcoholics Anonymous, an organization of former drinkers banded to break the liquor habit and to save others from over drinking. This is the fourth of a series.

What gets the pathological drinker who finally has reached such state that he is willing to listen to a cured rummy member of Alcoholics Anonymous, is that the retrieved alcoholic not only understands what only another alcoholic can understand, but a great deal that the unreformed drunk thinks no one else could know because he has never told anyone, and his difficulties or escapades must be private to his own history.

Fact is the history of all alcoholics is the same; some have been addicts longer than others, and some have painted brighter red patches around the town — that is all. What they have heard in the “cure” hospitals they have frequented, or from the psychoanalysts they have consulted, or the physicians who have tapered them off one bender or another at home, has convinced them that alcoholism is a disease. But they are sure (a) that their version of the disease differs from everyone else’s and (b) that in them it hasn’t reached the incurable stage anyway.

Head of the “cure” told them: “If you ever take another drink, you’ll be back.” Psychoanalyst said “Psychologically, you have never been weaned. Your subconscious is still trying to get even with your mother for some forgotten slight.” Family or hotel physician said “If you don’t quite drinking, you’ll die.”

Reproof
Lawyers, ministers, business partners and employers, parents and wives, also are professionally dedicated to listening to confidences and accepting confessions without undue complaint. But the clergyman may say: “Your drinking is a sin.” And partner or employer: “You’ll have to quit this monkey business or get out.” And wife or parent: “This drinking is breaking my heart.” And everyone: “Why don’t you exercise some will power and straighten up and be a man.”

“But,” the alcoholic whispers in his heart. “No one but I can know that I must drink to kill suffering too great to stand.”

Mike S.

General Manager

North Orange County Intergroup Association

Office:  (714) 773-4357

Email:  mikes@aanoc.org

NOCCO Welcomes New General Manager

The North Orange County Intergroup Board of Directors is pleased to announce the addition of Mike S. as its' General Manager.  He will direct the operations of the Central Office, manage inventory and sales, while supporting the volunteer staff and 24-hour call forwarding hotline to carry the message of sobriety.

"We interviewed several candidates in order to fill this unique position and ultimately determined that hiring Mike S. would further improve our support of institutions, groups and local sobriety," said Wes M., Chairman of the NOCCO Board.  "Mike puts NOCCO in the best possible position to expand our local support and continue the amazing progress we have been making over the last few years."

Prior to joining NOCCO, Mike spent several decades as Superintendent on large construction sites.  He managed million dollar projects and multi-site infrastructure.  His excellent people skills and proven ability to communicate well adds value to our cause.  Most notably, Mike was one of a handful of volunteers whose personal commitment at NOCCO helped us keep the doors open daily during the COVID-19 shut down.  We are very pleased and honored to have him partner with Faith B. to continue our good work in North Orange County.

Outreach Corner

The NOCCO meeting database is now linked to the “Meeting Guide App”, a free of charge meeting finder for iOS and Android that provides meeting information in an easy-to-access format.  If you don't have the app, you can get it on Google Play or download from the App Store.

NOCCO Hotline - (714) 773-HELP (4357)

We are available 24/7.  All calls are confidential.  Phones answered by sober volunteers.

Special January Price

$12.00 plus tax

Learn how AA members of all ages and all lifestyles from around the world, including spiritual, religious and atheists, as well as newcomers and old-timers, have found serenity and sobriety through the twelve-step program that Alcoholics Anonymous is based on.

In this collection of some of the most powerful contributions from the Grapevine archive dating from the 1940s to the present, readers at any stage of recovery will gain perspective through the experiences of their peers and learn practical ways to apply the Steps in everyday life.

With individual chapters for each Step, this honest and intimate collection of timeless stories and letters is a great resource for sponsors and sponsees, to guide conversation at meetings, or to use in personal reflection.

Neighborhood Notables

January Birthdays

It Works If You Work It, One Day At A Time.

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Stephen R. - 01/01/2019

Laura A. - 01/05/2014

Angie C. - 01/06/2003

Kristine D. - 01/12/2018

Steve B. - 01/15/2003

Polly C. - 01/19/1984

Sue S. - 01/20/1969

Richard - 01/20/2008

Sergio M. - 01/22/2018

Lisette L. - 01/22/1998

Scott M. - 01/30/2017

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We want to start acknowledging yearly milestones in sobriety each month.  Email faithb@aanoc.org with your month and date and we will add your annual birthday to our list.

Faithful Fivers

Thank you for your November contributions of $5 to NOCCO.  To join the Faithful Fivers club, go online to https://www.aanoc.org/7th-tradition.  Every time you buy NOCCO a $5 cup of coffee, an angel gets her wings! - (or something like that).

Do you have something special to report for our monthly neighborhood notables?  Please email birthdays, celebrations, sober activities and other odds and ends to faithb@aanoc.org.

InterGroup Meeting -  Jan 12 @ 7:30pm

Please join us at the next NOCCO InterGroup Meeting.  InterGroup Meetings are held the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 7:30 pm.  

Group Contributions 

To help support local essential services, the General Service Conference suggests that individual groups, through an informed group conscience, adopt a specific contribution plan.  Click below to see all of the Group Contributions from previous periods.

Statement of Financial Position

Each month, NOCCO provides accounting detail of income and expenses to indicate net profit or loss over the last month.  This information is available to any group or member.  Click below to see the financial detail from last month.

NOCCO Appreciates Your

7th Tradition Support

Even though meetings, 12-step services and operations have shifted to a hybrid environment, expenses continue as we navigate the re-opening of meetings, which underscores the importance of practicing the Seventh Tradition. We still stock literature, handle 12-step calls around the clock, and assist those with a desire to stop drinking. Your generous support is critical and appreciated.

Mail Checks To:

North Orange County Intergroup Association (NOCCO)

1661 E Chapman Avenue - Suite 1H

Fullerton, CA 92831

General Service  Announcements

www.aa.org

Area Delegates

Mid Southern California Area 09 of Alcoholics Anonymous

Mitchell B. - Panel 72

delegate@msca09aa.org

www.msca09aa.org

_____

Southern California Area 05 of Alcoholics Anonymous

Lauren A. - Panel 71

delegate@area05aa.org

www.area05aa.org

_____

Central California Area 93 of Alcoholics Anonymous

Karla Y. - Panel 71

delegate@area93.org

www.area93.org

Follow Grapevine and LaViña on Instagram

New A.A. website
It is my pleasure to announce the launch of our newly updated Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) website www.aa.org. What a great time and privilege to serve as the General Manager of your General Service Office (G.S.O.).

G.S.O. coordinates many services that help groups and members fulfill their purpose of carrying the A.A. message to the alcoholic who still suffers, and aa.org plays an important role in that work.

To read more, go to Click Here.  

New P.O. Box for Contributions Only

Post Office Box 2407

James A Farley Station

New York, NY 10116-2401

LinkedIn Project
Analytics on LinkedIn show we have over 1,500 followers, from fields such as Civic and Social Organizations, Marketing and Advertising, and Hospital and Health Care.  A focus group of professionals who work in the field of mental health is being put together to explore what questions professionals may have about AA.

A.A.W.S. Reserve Fund
As of September 30, 2021, the Reserve Fund balance net of Grapevine subscription liability is $12,806,27, which represents 8.48 months of G.S.O. and Grapevine expenses.  (Target is 9-12 months.)

Self-Support & Virtual Baskets
The committee met and discussed gathering shared experience on virtual 7th tradition baskets.  The committee also reviewed the updated Self-Support Communication Plan draft, noting that it moves away from the pandemic focus to how the Fellowship's contributions provide services to give A.A. members resources to do their Twelfth Step work.  

Literature Development
The committee reviewed working group progress reports on development of a Fourth Edition Alcoholicos Anonimos and development of a draft Fifth Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous.  The committee also discussed proposed development of a pamphlet entitled "Experience, Strength and Hope: A.A. for the Transgender Alcoholic" but took no action.  The committee agreed that due to the overwhelming number of pamphlets currently in development or in revision, as well as the projects carried over from the 70th and 71st General Service Conferences, new pamphlet requests cannot be addressed at this time.

I am Responsible. 

When anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, I want the hand of AA always to be there. 

For that, I am responsible.

Thanks to all contributors who support NOCCO.  

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