Woodrow W. Star III, 33, Arikara/ Hunkpapa Lakota.

1. “There’s all kinds of activities, it’s pretty much unlimited to what you can do to divert you, but it’s been my experience that what’s been keeping me sober for the past six years has been Alcoholics Anonymous, going to meetings, helping other alcoholics stay sober. As far as diversions, that comes after time. It’s like a part of anything else. After I got sober I had to kind of learn how to live life sober so I had to learn how to do things different, like fishing. Before, when I used to go fishing it involved a six-pack of beer and sitting beside the river, but now today it’s different. I put some weighters on and I get in the river and walk down the river. I’m actually doing something. That’s just all a part of what it means to not drink and stay sober. I don’t know if there’s really ONE THING that could make a person stay sober, diversion wise.
2. “Suggestions would be not to drink. Again, there’s a lot of things to do. It all depends on the person themselves, if they’ve got a problem with alcohol, if they’ve been having problems with alcohol. It’s been my experience that one certain kind of activity isn’t going to relieve that. Thorough changes need to be made in a person’s life. It does include activities you do; don’t be going to bars no more, don’t be trying to hang around situations where a drink might come your way and you might have a problem turning it down. That’s with any situation. It isn’t really alcohol that makes a person drink; it’s the person that makes a person drink. It’s unlimited to what you can do.”