{"id":1155,"date":"2025-07-10T13:34:26","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T12:34:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/?p=1155"},"modified":"2025-07-10T13:34:26","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T12:34:26","slug":"play-the-tape-forward-aa-quote-reflection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/07\/10\/play-the-tape-forward-aa-quote-reflection\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cPlay The Tape Forward\u201d &#8211; (AA Quote) Reflection"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019d be lying if I said I haven\u2019t had thoughts of a gamble or a drink whilst here. What keeps me refrain is \u2018playing the tape forward\u2019. Hypothetically if I was to leave here today what would happen? Firstly it\u2019s my payday so money isn\u2019t an issue, it\u2019s temptation. I would probably make it to the nearest off licence or pub (this would turn out to be exactly what happened). I\u2019d have done a u-turn and be back on the roundabout of addiction. Secondly, my next of kin would be notified, My Mum. I would be creating worry within my family unit again (Again, I\u2019m guilty of this).<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then the shame and guilt would start creeping into my life like an uncontrollable virus. I would then proceed to sleeping on the streets of Athy or end up in either a cell or hospital. (Ironically I made it as far as Dublin, I was arrested for my own safety under the mental health act and was given a referral for St. James Hospital the following morning.) The next morning I\u2019d go for the cure before getting a train to Dublin, provided I still had money for it. I\u2019d continue to repeat my previous night except I\u2019d be in a new location. Eventually I\u2019d make it back to Galway, probably suicidal at this point. (Yep you guessed it, this all came true). If I wasn\u2019t sectioned or arrested for my own safety I\u2019d be begging on the streets and mixing with people I no longer desire to mix with. For now, I think I\u2019ll press pause on the tape.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Live Typing on the above:<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is the first time I have read over this part of my journal. Maybe I do have some fortune telling skills, 95% of the events above occurred three days later when I decided to leave residential treatment. Today sober, I can see how cunning and baffling addiction can be. The power my addictions have on me. My addictions were doing press ups throughout my programme waiting for me to walk out. I know the tape would be similar today, I need to be on guard and do everything in my power to protect my sobriety.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span>I\u2019d be lying if I said I haven\u2019t had thoughts of a gamble or a drink whilst here. What keeps me refrain is \u2018playing the tape forward\u2019. Hypothetically if I was to leave here today what would happen? Firstly it\u2019s my payday so money isn\u2019t an issue, it\u2019s temptation. I ...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":930,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,52,65,51,50,62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-addiction","category-cmathy","category-cuanmhuire","category-flashback","category-livetyping","category-reflections"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u201cPlay The Tape Forward\u201d - (AA Quote) Reflection - Sober.ie V1.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I\u2019d be lying if I said I haven\u2019t had thoughts of a gamble or a drink whilst here. 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