It’s primarily a suggestion for the newcomer, not to get too hungry, angry, lonely or tired (HALT). The thought is that one or more of these conditions can lead to a generally deteriorating attitude, which can lead to a drink.
One of the things about being an oldtimer in the program is that I have to be old. I don’t think being too hungry was ever a problem for me, ever, but it certainly hasn’t been a problem for a very long time. Over eating is a problem. And, while I’m on the subject, I’ll just say that it sucks. I gave up drinking a long time ago. I gave up smoking more recently, but still a long time ago. I never gambled, swore, or played around, and I still drink caffeine as really, my only vice. I know lots of us discover eating as a recreational activity at just the time that our metabolism is changing, our body is deteriorating and things go wrong that never again will be right. And, having lives we finally love, we want to prolong those as long much as possible. I’ve heard that drinking alcoholically can shorten your life by something like 30 years. I believe it. My father died from it at 33. Having overcome that, there should be some compensation, but there isn’t. We still have to give up the cigarettes and now, the food.
Sorry for that rant! So yes, being too hungry doesn’t come up in my life, ever. I’m also seldom lonely at all, and if I am, it isn’t for long. I’m an only child, and I think that helps. I’ve never lived alone, and I don’t think that I ever will, if all goes according to plan. I have spent days and maybe a week living alone with my immediate family has been away, but not often. I don’t need alone time as much as I need unobligated time. During times when everyone I live with is elsewhere, I still have work and meetings to go to, and I do. So far being lonely hasn’t been a problem for me.
Likewise for being tired, I’ve always been a poor sleeper, as long as I can remember and even before that, according to my mother. As I’ve aged the time I’m able to go completely without sleep has shortened, but I still can operate and feel OK on several nights of very little sleep. Actually I think that age (again), weight (again) and menopause (ack) are making me a worse sleeper than I’ve ever been. Still I usually don’t actually feel “tired.”
Well anger is another story all together. Too angry. I’m often that. It is not at this point going to lead to a drink, absolutely not. But it surely lowers the quality of my day and the quality of the day of those I spend time with. There’s a Thoreau quote I love:
It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look . . . To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.
2 Comments
November 8, 2008 at 4:59 am
Hehe – looks like I’m not the only one ranting…;)
I was told that whenever I felt even ONE of the HALT symptoms, I should get myself to a meeting. I remember times when I felt all four at once, and I think that it was then that I realized that I sometimes needed to go to more than one meeting a day.
I’m pleasantly tired tonight, but it was as a result of a long, productive day, part of which was spent with people who inspire me.
BTW, love the Thoreau quote – I may steal it…
Harry
November 8, 2008 at 4:01 pm
We put that quote on a thank you note for people who came to our wedding. I also used it at work for a co-worker’s 80th birthday (she’s amazing). I need to put it in my rotating quotes for sure.