For the last several months we have been involved in the creation of our new website. Our idea was to put The Solution on the web so that it was accessible to all people in recovery, world wide. This has been a great experience and has allowed us to link to other sites and to take on international advertisers. The website is Sobersolution.com and here you will find the latest issue of the Solution as well as features not found in the print version. We have linked to money saving web sites such as amazon.com and planetrx.com. We have come to use these services ourselves and wish to pass them on to our readers.

As we continue to build the site we will be adding links to other sites of interest to recovering people as well as goods and services geared to saving money and improving our lives.

The Internet has become a valuable resource for the recovering community. It is possible to find an on-line meeting, a daily meditation, a list of meetings   for any area in the world or even talk on line to another recovering person.   Here in Palm Beach County we take the abundance of meetings almost for granted but in more remote places such as Northern New Hampshire where I go trout fishing meetings are few and far between. The Internet allows recovering people to keep the daily contact with other recovering people. Also it is possible to find sober housing, treatment and professional help on the Internet. All this information is available on our desktop at the click of a mouse.

The Internet has it’s down side like all good things. For those of us of an addictive nature the Web can become an item of obsession and compulsion. Some hazards include an Internet addiction that has many of the same symptoms as gambling, drug and alcohol addiction. Also the Internet can lead to some pretty lousy relationships if not used with prudence. I have yet to talk to anyone who has had a successful relationship that began in Cyberspace. It’s real easy to get lost in time and space when surfing the net. I have some freinds that have a hard time turning off the computer and going to bed. This is reflected in the bleary-eyed over tired look of many Internet abusers.

Personally I had to be led into computers and cyberspace kicking and screaming. I thought that the personal computer was a huge time waster and that there wasn’t anything that the computer could do that I couldn’t do without one. But then I also still have records, a turntable and can’t seem to part with an old black and white television.

The Solution was started on an old Brother Word Processor and now we are encumbered with an office full of electronic equipment which includes phone, fax, and two computers with all the bells and whistles. I have become proficient in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Publisher and Quark Xpress and Adobe Photoshop. But I must admit to being much more comfortable writng the way I always have, the way I am at this minute: sitting at the kitchen table with a pen and a pad of paper. As we all know in recovery, old habits are hard to break. I think I’ll hold on to this one for just a little while longer.