Definition (slang) of COSIGN: to propound; acknowledge and accept partial responsibility for the presence/actions of another person and the effects thereof.
While drinking, I would find people to hang with who drank more than me—people who would cosign that behavior, making it more comfortable for me to continue. My friends cosigned my drinking. As in, “misery loves company.” I got to hide a little better hanging with friends who drank like me because it seemed more normal that way.
Normal. What is normal? I’ve heard it said that it’s a setting on a washing machine. There is no normal with drinking.
If I was going to stay sober, I had to decide to hang around people who didn’t drink, preferably people in sobriety that knew the struggle themselves — hanging with like-minded people made it easier to go forward and not have drinking as a temptation.
Definition of DECIDE: To induce to come to a choice
History and Etymology of DECIDE: From Latin decidere, literally, to cut off, from de- + caedere to cut
I love that the word DECIDE, literally means to CUT OFF. Now, I have only sober friends who cosign my sobriety. This works much better for me, and for them. I literally had to cut off my drinking friends at first to help stop my own cycle. Many years later, I can now be around people who drink and not have it affect me, but in early sobriety, it just made it harder. Many days in a row of knowing I can live this life without drinking taught me that I didn’t have to make drinking my first solution to any problem.
Part of staying sober is learning new behaviors that serve me to replace the old behaviors that didn’t. Stopping drinking is just the beginning. My thinking had to be addressed for behaviors to change. Now, I can look at my life and decide what is working and what is not and actually look at changing those behaviors to other healthier behaviors.
Now, my new behaviors in place are: Talking to God—praying, talking to my sponsor or talking to others in sobriety, going to meetings and hanging with people who cosign all of this behavior!
Try it.
Works for me.
It just might work for you!
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”
James 5:16
To buy my books, click on the website menu bar at the top of this page.