“Addiction is addiction.” You said it. I totally agree with that idea.
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I think of it like this.
If you are a smoker, you’re just that. Doesn’t matter if it’s two packs a day, or half a pack a day. You are a smoker.
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I’ve never been too keen on group sessions of any type. I’ve suffered from anxiety for years so AA is not really for me.
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I totally relate. I have been trying to find something that works for me too. I am hoping that this forum will offer the support I need. However, it would be nice to have direct access to someone for those times when I am about to do something stupid.
The greatest thing about AA is that it doesn’t have a monopoly on recovery…I work a 12 step program because it is the only thing I have seen truly work for someone like me…and I get it I had my bias to any 12 step fellowship or whatever for a long time…but at the end of the road when I had lost everything and I do mean everything(house wife cars friends integrity self respect mental stability -I was desolate in despair and homeless like real homelessness etc) there was nowhere else for me to go…every program I tried either took money or had a application process or whatever but in the end AA/NA whatever didn’t ask me to do anything but keep coming back-I did-and now my life is great!I love when newcomers try to tell me how they are gonna stay sober!!! I did it too…funny thing is if we knew how to stay sober when we got here we wouldn’t have needed to come here
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I am on day 6 of my recovery. I’ve hit ‘reset’ so many times, I lost count. What I’m doing differently this time is going to AA. I have yet to speak (although they had me read the preamble at my very first meeting - hah, I don’t think they realized I was 100% new!). I am listening a lot and learning so much. I find it comforting to be in a safe environment that follows a structure and where I can listen to people who I relate to on so many levels. I’m looking forward to participating and sharing my thoughts and feelings with someone OTHER than my husband. He’s loving and supportive but he is not an addict, so there’s a disconnect there.
I’m going to a meeting on my lunch break which will be meeting #3 for me and so far I’ve found them to be a valuable addition to my recovery plan this time around. I like the idea of “doing something” public - forcing myself to go and to read that step #1 over and over again. I know it to be 100% true and am not ready to move onto step #2 quite yet because I really want to let Step 1 sink in for me.
Overall, I’m a fan!
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Great post! Great to hear!! I think they probaly knew that you were 100% new when they asked you to read😉 They know that it helps people to loosen up.
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I am always nervous about speaking. Seems like it’s always the same people who speak, and it’s always the veteran recovering alcoholics: “Yeah, I’ve been sober for 30 years, and here’s how I did it.” Good for you.
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For me AA has shown me a new way of living. I have a life I am no longer ashamed of. AA has helped me to become accountable for my actions. I work with a sponsor that I am eternally grateful for. If I hadn’t asked her to sponsor me and guide me through the 12 Steps, I’d probably be dead.
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went to my first meeting 15th sept 1986 yes it worked for me still sober
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I didn’t find it helpful. In fact it depressed me more because I didn’t feel like my drinking was as bad as other people there. I felt like because I hadn’t lost my job or crashed my car or soiled myself I didn’t really have a problem. I thought getting drunk and blacking out and falling over wasn’t enough. Silly now thinking that but I took the opportunity to read the 12 steps and take from them what I could. Whatever works for people is what they should do. I admire anyone who is hanging in there by whatever means.
Amazing. I saw your post the other day with all your days and it took me a while to work out the decades!!!
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