How To Live A Simple Yet Happy Life

All of us know that there is nothing simple in life, or is there?  I have learned over the past two years that less is more and I will continue to live life thinking and acting that way.  I always knew that saying , but never put it into action in my own life.

How to live a simple yet happy life is really up to each and everyone of us, and if that is the lifestyle you wish to live by.  For many of people they wish to live high on the hog, as they say, but living this way and knowing you may not be able to afford this type of lifestyle, could very well put you in a financial situation that maybe very difficult to get out of.  I know this because a time in my life I was in that same boat and was drowning in debt.

I wanted things and bought things that I thought I could afford, but knew deep down that I couldn't.  This never stopped me from getting what I wanted.  The banks make it so easy to get loans as long as you were willing to pay the high interest rates in which I didn't care about because I wanted what I wanted and never thought of the consequences to pay the loans back.

At that time I also had one other problem and that was, I was addicted to alcohol in which made me make poor decisions and made me think irrational.

When you make poor decisions in life they will indeed catch up to you and make your life very miserable because those thoughts and decisions you made before.  These poor decisions need to be dealt with and corrected in order to be happy again and get your life back on track. 

After I surrendered to my addiction to alcohol I started to think better and make better decisions in my life and one of those decisions were to get out of debt and live a happy life again and not worry about where the money was going to come from to pay for all those stupid purchases I did years before.

Once I got clean and sober I was then able to start to plan this huge change in my life, with of course, the help of my wife that stuck by my side through all the ups and downs in our marriage all do to my addiction.  I praise her for standing by my side through these tough times.

Now it was up to me to make things better. The way they should of been all those years in the past.

IDEAS FOR YOU TO LIVE A SIMPLE LIFE

• Remember that less is more is most cases, although many people may argue with that statement. It is my thoughts and the way I now live my life, and it has worked out perfect.
• Get rid of all the things you really don't need and start cleaning and throwing away.
• Think if you can do without different things to make life simpler.
• Start paying down extra on your bills to get them paid in full sooner.
• As far as transportation, do you really need that expensive car or truck?  I bought a car cash, because after all I only need it to get from point A to point B. 
• Think of things while grocery shopping that really are not necessary to buy.
• All these things I mentioned save money and when you save money by cutting down you can live more simple (and don't need to break your back working for the rest of your life to pay those bills for the fun and the prestige for things I really didn't need to be happy in my life.)
• Many people reading may think I'm nuts, BUT I have done all of this and I am a stone throw away from being debt free, and that is a wonderful feeling.  So call me nuts, but I have no financial worries anymore.  I live simple and I am happier than I have ever been.  I now realize that material things mean nothing, although they are is a sign of prestige for many, but not me anymore.
• As I said in other articles, I sold my home and downsized big time to a manufactured home in a 55+ community minutes from the Ocean with the Bay right down the street.  It was my life long dream to live by the sea and with my addiction to alcohol and the way I lived in the past it would never be possible to have what I have now and the best part is, everything is paid in full and now I can relax and enjoy my life with no more worries of paying or having things I really never needed, just to impress others.

So if you would like to live a simple life and still be happy it is very possible.  I never thought I would be living so simple and yet still be happy, but I am, and the change in my life by quitting drinking alcohol and downsizing my life is certainly the best thing I could ever have done.  The only thing you need is to have the willingness, the desire and the guts to make that change and believe me it can happen if you truly want it to.

Alcoholism Is a Choice

We as individual people get to choose what we want out of life , but some of us choose the wrong direction in our lives.  As far as drinking alcohol and abusing it, I would say that alcoholism is a choice. 

I chose to drink alcohol like many of us do and no one forced me into drinking, I did it all on my own.  I was the one that chose to self destruct myself and almost ruin my life and my family.  I chose to drink and I paid the consequences in the end.

I was fortunate enough that my alcohol addiction did not make me ill enough to be hospitalize, but as far as everything else, it just started to fall to pieces a little at a time until I basically hit rock bottom.  I buried our lives in debt and found it very hard to get out.

No one made me do anything.  I was the only person that listened to my alcohol demons that took over my life and body.  I blame no one, but myself.

Now for the big thing, to be able to get out of something I put myself into, and that was my addiction to alcohol. It was my choice to drink alcohol, (as it is yours and everyone else) that has become addicted to a substance that can and will ruin your life in time, if not drank responsibly.

I chose alcohol over my family and my own health and life and now it was time to surrender to my addiction no matter what it took to get and stay clean and sober.

If you are one of the ones that became addicted to alcohol and alcoholism has taken over your life, I have to say never give up on yourself.  If you want to be clean and sober then start taking action to change your life around and live it like it should be lived, and that is sober and happy.

If you want to be sober than the first step is to admit you are an alcoholic and you want and need help to get sober.  Ask for the help you need and never be embarrassed of your addiction, because what is inside you, your demons, have simply taken over your life and the only way to get rid of them once and for all is to surrender too them and start living a clean and sober life.

I thought is would be so hard to surrender to my demons, but believe it or not, it really wasn't that bad. I have been clean and sober now two years. I had it in my mind from the very beginning that I would achieve sobriety no matter what it took, and nothing or anyone would stand in my way of getting clean and sober.  Once you have it in your mind like I did, and you are serious about quitting drinking alcohol, you will conquer your addiction.

You have to have the determination, the willingness and a strong desire to get clean and sober and with  these things and keeping a positive attitude you will indeed find sobriety as I did.

I was your choice to drink alcohol and it is your choice to get get clean and sober.  The bottom line is, THE CHOICE IS YOURS AND NO ONE ELSE."

How To Retire By Living Low Key

Everyone in the world would love to have the best of everything in life, and some people may achieve that, and then there are those that struggle throughout their entire lives.

I am going to tell you what I have come up with.  I call it my Master Plan. I will tell you my logic and my life on "how to retire by living low key."

I always had rich taste my entire life, but knew what I wanted in my life was too difficult to achieve with what I had to work with, such as lack of education and the lack of knowledge to being rich.  I raise my hat to all those that have achieved success in their lives and wish them all the best and more to come for them.  As far as my life and wanting to retire, I needed to come up with a plan that would able me to retire early in life and to be able to enjoy my life while still being healthy.

I first had to get rid of something that had been in my life for many years and that was my addiction to alcohol.  Once I surrendered to my addiction, now two years sober, I started to think of what I could do to be able to live a simple yet happy life.

My first thing, and the biggest thing of all was to downsize my home and get rid of that huge mortgage payment I was making for the next 20 some years.  My dream in life was to always live by the sea, and where I was brought up as child during the summers each year.  I knew that living on the water, whether it be the Ocean or the Bay was way out of my reach, so I needed to think what I could do to get very close to those two bodies of water without spending a fortune, which I didn't have anyway.  My wife came up with an idea to look into mobile home parks in the Shore areas and see what they were like.  Most of them were 55 + community which was great because when we started looking I was only 6 months from the age of 55.   We found a beautiful place less than a mile from the open bay and about 6-8 minutes from the ocean. 

Now the question was, "would we be happy in a home much smaller and living in a mobile home
community?" The place that we found was a modular home (double wide) just like a rancher, but   needed lots of work to get it in living order.  We purchased it and paid cash and totally re-modeled
it from the inside and out.  Now we have a brand new home that was paid in full.  The only bill we
would then have regarding the home would be our utilities and HOA fees of $455.00 per month, which included, Taxes, water, sewer, trash, snow removal, pool and clubhouse.

Secondly, I needed to get all the rest of our bills together and start paying them off one at a time.

I cut up all the credit cards, because now everything was going to be paid in cash with no more credit.

I only buy what I need, with nothing extra.

I cut down on many things that really was not necessary in my everyday living.

I needed to do this in order to live life simple and have my dream home by the sea.  If you are willing to give to get, like I was, your life can be so much easier if you take that chance.  Sure, I was very nervous and worried if everything would come out as I planned, but as of right now, I am writing at my shore home with no mortgage and bills that are getting paid in full one at a time, until I have no bills at all except my living expenses.

Anyone can do it like I did.  You need to have the guts to take that chance, and in my case it worked out just fine and I am happy and living like the rich with no bills and no worries anymore.


  

                

How To Live Sober And Be Happy

For many people that are addicted to alcohol, sobriety hasn't been in their lives for some time.  This statement also refers to myself.  Years have gone by and we the alcoholics forget what it feels like to be clean and sober and to wake up in the morning refreshed and happy.  We wake up with a huge headache and some may even go for the bottle first thing in the morning just to take that edge off and get back into the feeling they had when retiring to bed the night before.

Once that first drink of the day is drank, we are right back to that buzzed feeling again.  Some of us just have one or two drinks to start our day and then there are those that have the first drink and continue to drink the rest of their day.

Through my experiences drinking alcohol I would like to try and explain how to live sober and be happy.  I thought when I drank alcohol I was a happy person, in fact most alcoholics think they are happy, and they very well maybe, but the alcohol can play those head games with you.  My demons played many of games with my mind, such as making me think I was happy, but in fact I was very miserable on the inside and may of try to act happy to others, but I knew deep down the true feeling inside.

Living sober and being happy is in any one's life if you truly want to live and feel that way.  There are those that simply want to be miserable and unhappy and I truly think they don't know any better.  They have lived with their addiction for so many years they just think that it is the way of life.

Once I had decided to surrender to my addiction I then began my new quest of living life simple and began to try to be a bit more happy.  By living life simple I have realized that I didn't need all those fancy things in life to be happy.  In fact, I am the happiest I have ever been just living simple. 

I sold my home and downsized to a smaller one in a 55+ community where the only thing I have to pay for now is my land (HOA) fees.  Now sober I can appreciate even the smallest of things and really appreciate living so close to the Ocean and Bay and only minutes away.

You need to learn to live simple and to just enjoy what you have and stop wanting more and more out of life, because in my opinion it only brings misery when you get so far in debt that you have a hard time getting out of it.  I now have clean out, thrown out everything I don't need and just live with the simplest things and the things that are nessessary in my everyday living.

Sobriety and liviing life simple is my top priority along with my wife and family.  With all said, life is wonderful and stress free to say the least in which helps me to stay sober because I have no more worrries or stress in my life living it simple and being happy doing it.

Anyone, as I said, can do this if you are willing to give up a few things as I did by stopping drinking first and the rest came right into place.  If you are willing to change your life for the better than in the long run you will be happier and if you are an alcoholic and decide to get and stay sober you will see just how great life is living it sober, and living it happy.

Quitting Drinking Alcohol Will Change Your Life

As we all know we all have only one life to live, so we had better make the best of our time here on earth.  Many of us are trying to cut our lives short by abusing alcohol or drugs.

I have to say, from my past experience that quitting drinking alcohol will change your life.  It certainly did for me.  I was a heavy drinker for many of years and finally I said that enough is enough and I have to change my life around so that I can live a longer and healthier life and to be able to watch my children grow to be old.  To be able to watch my grandchild become an adult and to walk my daughter down the isle when she gets married.  All these things could be diminished if I or you continue on that road to self destruction we call alcoholism.

If you are addicted to alcohol just sit back and think of all you may miss out on or better yet, think of the years being lost or cut short all because of an avoidable addiction. 

When I surrendered to my addiction to alcohol, I thought long and hard about what I was ready to do.  I was ready to say goodbye to my best friend forever.  i was so afraid of how I would feel and how my body would react without alcohol being part of my life, but that was not going to stop me from getting clean and sober.  I was determined to make this happen and nothing or no one was going to stop me.

If you want sobriety back into your life you too must think in this manner and continue to tell yourself that you can and will achieve long term sobriety and once sober you must continue to think this way forever,

Keep a positive attitude in your life and things that you thought would never happen will indeed happen, and I am proof of that.

So the bottom line here is that I quit drinking alcohol and my life and my families life have changed all for the better.  Try getting clean and sober and try out sobriety, you will never regret it.

Learn how to quit drinking without AA.

Living Sober At The Jersey Shore

This has been a long time coming in my life and my wife's life as well.  I am now living sober at the Jersey Shore. 

Living a life of alcoholism for many years held me back on so many things I wanted to do in my life and the 30 years of my marriage suffered along with my actions and being addicted to alcohol.

Now, I have beat the addiction that has run and almost ruined my life for so many years using the pure determination and a positive attitude has helped me become clean and sober and has helped me stay clean and sober.

Sobriety has changed my life and believe me if you are thinking about changing your life as I did, you will never be sorry that you did.

It is so much thinking and planing, but I did it and so can you.  When I say thinking and planning I mean, you need to ask yourself if you truly want to be sober and live a life of sobriety because if you are not serious about getting clean and sober you are wasting your time.

I wasted time so many times when I was only fooling myself by saying I will only drink alcohol on weekends and special Holidays.  I have to tell you that it never worked.  For me, it was to surrender completely or continue on the path of self destruction.  I was one that could have one or two drinks and walk away, so I need to quit drinking alcohol all together.  That was the plan I needed to think about.  Did I really want to be sober?

My answer to myself was, " I want to be sober again."  I made up my mind and chose my start date to begin my road to recovery and stuck to it and here I am 2 years later, still sober, healthy and happier than I have ever been in my life.

My wife and I are now living our dream at the Jersey Shore and minutes from the Ocean and Bay.  This is what we have wanted our whole married life, but alcohol put a stop to all our dream and goals.

It goes to show you when there is a will there is a way.  I had the will to surrender to my addiction to alcohol and I then was able to make our dream a reality.  Sobriety is possible in any alcoholics life if and only if the alcoholic is willing to make that change in his/her life.  If you put your mind to it and start thinking and having a positive attitude you can and will beat your addiction, but the biggest and hardest thing is, you need to want sobriety and need to have the determination, strength and willpower to get and stay sober once and for all.

How To Beat Your Addiction To Alcohol

Have you ever wanted to beat something so bad, but just didn't know how to go about it and win?  This is the problem with many people that are addicted to alcohol.  They want deep down to surrender to their addiction, but don't know or are afraid to take that first step in doing so.


How to beat your addiction to alcohol can be right in front of your face, but you are blinded to all of it because your addiction has gotten the best of you, so you think.

I have learned over these two years, exactly today, October 27, 2011 clean and sober and still going stronger than ever and continuing to fight my inner demons.What I have learned is that there is nothing better or greater than sobriety.

Anyone can beat their inner demons and their addiction whether it is alcohol or drugs.  The only thing and the biggest part of surrendering is to want to quit drinking and using.  Without the WANT, it is a hopeless case, in my eyes. 

I messed around saying I will just drink on weekends or major Holidays and special occasions, but I was only fooling myself.  I knew, and my family knew, I would never be able to do that special occasional drink  for I was an alcoholic and needed that booze everyday and not on occasions or on weekends. 

I thought it was a great idea and it may of stopped the nagging about my drinking.  It didn't work and would never work.  Some people can't just be a social drinker, like myself.  We can't just have one or two drinks and say that is enough for me. No, we need to drink until we are drunk or till every drop of alcohol is gone.

If you want to beat your addiction,than here is what I did in order for me to become clean and sober and hopefully some of this will help you as well.

1. I finally admitted I had a huge drinking problem.
2. I wanted so bad to be sober and live a normal life again.
3. I promised myself I would never touch alcohol again, and I am a man of my word.
4. I prayed to God to help give me the strength and willpower to get sober.
5. I would not let anyone or anything stand in my way of me getting and staying sober.
6. I changed my outlook on life and started to think nothing but Positive thoughts.
7. I started to love myself and my live like no other, and wanted to give my life a second chance.

I hope some of these things I stated about my own life and what I did and thought of will touch some place in your heart and give you the strength to beat your addiction to alcohol as I did.

If you really want to get clean and sober, then stand up to your demons and shut them down in their tracks.  You can do it believe me.  If you have the will to change and the pure determination to make that change in your life, than sobriety is waiting for you.  Don't ever quit on finding your sobriety and never back down to your demons and relapse after you have gotten clean and sober and worked so hard to get there.

You will have many times on your road to recovery, that temptation and the urge to drink will come into your life, and if that happens, as it has many times for me, SIMPLY SAY NO!!! 

Beat your addiction, and get clean and sober and stay clean and sober.  You will never regret the hard work put forth to have a new and healthy life.

Tips On How To Get And Stay Sober

Here are some tips on how to get and stay sober through my own experiences with drinking alcohol and a little information on my life as an alcoholic.

Living a life with alcohol starts as a fun and exciting thing until all hell breaks loose, and the demons of alcohol have taken over our life as they did for me.  You begin to depend on alcohol more and more as you are partying and drinking by yourself as I did.  You can't go a day without having your drinks and getting the high your body longs for each and everyday.

Sure, I love to drink and have fun just as much or even more than the next guy, but it became a huge problem when I got addicted to the alcohol and didn't know how to get out the horrible life I was now living in.

I neglected my family, my friends and even neglected myself, because the only thing I had on my mind is getting that first drink in me right after work and drank until it was time to go to bed.  It became the new love of my life, and I knew I was doing wrong, but my body depended on me feeding the alcohol everyday. 

I felt as if there was no way out of the addiction to alcohol I had.  As time went by I became more embarrassed and a shame of my addiction to alcohol and knew people were talking about me and my horrible life I was leading, but it still wasn't enough to make me stop drinking alcohol.

I would never want to go to any family functions unless there was alcohol served, and if there wasn't alcohol I would hide some in my car and sneak out on my smoke break and have a fast can of beer.  When I think of all these things now being clean and sober, I can't believe that I was so weak and couldn't beat the addiction I had.

These reason I couldn't beat my addiction was that I simply wasn't ready to surrender to my addiction.  No matter what anyone would tell me I wouldn't listen or did I care for that matter. 

I am now sober 2 years tomorrow, October 27, 2011 and want to share what i have learned and how I surrendered to my addiction on my own, with no 12 step, no rehab. and no meetings.  Not everyone can do as I have done, because many alcoholics need to enter a Rehab.Center to be treated professionally and start their detox under Medical supervision.

TIPS ON HOW I GOT AND STAYED SOBER:

1. First and foremost, you need to want to get sober!
2. If you are a negative person, you need to get a positive attitude.
3. If need be, you have to ask for help.
4. You have to admit you are an alcoholic and you need and want help.
5. You have to have the willingness and determination to get sober.
6. You cannot let anything or anyone stand in you way of sobriety.
7. You may need to steer clear of anyone you associated with while drinking alcohol.
8. You may have to find sober friends.
9. You have to look at your future as an alcoholic and compare that to a life of sobriety.
10. There is only one way to stop drinking alcohol and that is to JUST QUIT!

These are a few things that helped me get and stay sober and I hope these ideas and true facts will help you find your way out of your addiction and live a life of sobriety as I have done.

Sobriety is so possible for anyone that is addicted to alcohol.  All you need to do is to want sobriety back into your life so bad that you are willing to do anything to get it back.

BELIEVE AND YOU WILL ACHIEVE!