I’m only 5 days but this time I’m on my own. Tried AA last year but didn’t feel right for me. I’m impressed and you have given me the incentive.
I also drank 8 to 10 cans a day starting in the morning and finishing when I passed out on the sofa after work. Also bottles of wine BEFORE going to work!!!
Good luck!!!
The person who originally posted this is also no longer active on the forum. Beware of false idols. We have no way of knowing if this person actually stayed sober. I just saw a woman pick up 48 years in AA. That’s how I know that it works.
Good luck in your endeavors.
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The ghost returns! You are a truth idol!
There are quite a few on here that went it on their own with out AA. When you learn their stories, they had support in other ways. After 90 days on my own, i needed something more. SMART didnt speak to me, but AA did. Its a lot of work on your own, from what i read in other posts from people who didnt need it. Before you rule AA out, seek those who were successful without it. Good luck!
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So it is completely possible to be sober without AA
If you have a caddy and a gym membership
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I’m definitely at that point with 6 months sober. We all need support, in any way we can continuously get it. I am going to try to go to a SMART meeting Thursday. If that doesn’t work, I will look into AA. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll find something else. I feel one of the two will be what I need though.
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No prohibition against doing both. Maybe they both work
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The SMART group near me just opened up a whole day of meetings on Sundays. But there are also AA meetings super close to me as well. Depending on my schedule I would do both if possible.
I’ll definitely post how the meeting went. I’m nervous, like most people about going.
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I’m interested in smart recovery as well. Let us know how it goes. Good luck!
I personally love AA. There are tons of awesome people there. When I quit going I started drinking and using again. I’m going to my first meeting in 4 years this morning. I’ve been clean and sober for 7 days now. I’m in IOP, but I know I need meetings too. I’m nervous, but I know everyone will be welcoming as always.
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I am one of those who quit without AA. That doesn’t mean I don’t have a program. I did an outpatient detox, ended up in the psych hospital because outpatient detox wasn’t enough, did 4 months of IOP. Saw two therapists and a psychiatrist. Ditched all my “friends” and was off work for 5 months. Told EVERYONE I knew/know that I was DONE! Accountability was and is the center of my recovery. I ditched my primary care doctor and previous psychiatrist because they were prescribing me benzos without care. Benzos went hand in hand with alcohol. Cut out the waking up in the middle of the night detoxing and helped with the anxiety and detoxing in the morning. I was on and off meds trying to figure out what would help. I ended up ditching one of my therapists because she decided that I had started drinking again even though I had not. She became toxic to my recovery. As I got more clean time under my belt I shed more friends. When I went back to work I promised everyone I would check in regularly and be honest. I changed my driving route to and from work to avoid the same path I used to take to the bar. I got on this forum and created a sober network. I have now branched out to open chat with some I’m close with so that I have 24/7 personal support.
And this is a short list of all the things i have done in the last 500+ days. I feel like AA or SMART or any of the other programs might have been a lot easier.
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I am still here going strong at 600 days without AA. Not knocking AA at all, just a reminder that there have been many advances since AA was founded in how we understand and can treat addiction and there are many paths to health and healing. Find the path that works for you. 
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Accountability is definitely a must. Great job😀
That’s awesome! 
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I’m in Drug Court and have had my fair share of incarcerated inpatient, IOP, Relapse Prevention, and now in Aftercare. If I didn’t have my AA meetings, my Sponsor, the 12 Steps, and Fellowship - I would certainly fail. And all of this would not be possible without my Higher Power.
Have a wonderful meeting. 
Pick up a Desire chip, if they do that sorta thing there… 
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Thanks. I did. I’m glad I went🖒. It was an awesome way to start my day😀
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I’m at four years and two months sober. No AA, no SMART or any other program. And while I can’t predict the future or know anything past this moment, I feel like I’m solid. I’m done with alcohol.
Over the last four years I’ve spent a lot of time examining how big a role I allowed alcohol to play in my life-- and how that role morphed and grew over time. I fucked up all sorts of relationships in my life, humiliated myself countless times, I crashed cars, destroyed friendships, exposed myself to danger and woke up morning after morning hating myself for what I had done the night before. Stewed in alcohol, I also stalled for a decade or so when I could have been moving forward. When I was drinking, I didn’t question my behaviors or analyze them. I drank so that I wouldn’t have to think much about anything. Instead I felt proud of being a good drunk. My fool ass believed that drinking was a talent-- something I was very good at. I thought it made me cool. Of course, drunken shenanigans that might have been marginally cute in my 20’s became a lot sadder, desperate and less cute in my 30’s and 40’s.
I credit my initial sobriety to staying the hell away from bars and my old drinking buddies for the first six months. It was lonely and I felt quite sorry for myself but I stayed away from old places and faces because I knew I would not have been strong enough to say no. But if I’m completely honest, the reason I got sober when I did is because I had changed jobs right before I quit. I didn’t have many friends in the new job and I knew I had a choice of expending the effort to make friends with all the drunks in the new office or trying to stop the craziness altogether. Also shortly before I quit, I watched a lawyer in my new office who was in his 60’s, who was too shitfaced to walk, get carried out of a bar by our 20 year old colleagues and all I could think was, my god, that’s going to be me.
After the first six months of self imposed isolation, my fitbit and the Hamilton soundtrack carried me through my city and the rest of the first year or my sobriety. I love them both passionately because of this. With the fitbit I got physically active again (after years of sedentary drinking) and I lost a lot of weight which felt wonderful and further inspired me to stay healthy by not drinking. I also read a ton of books, blogs and articles about sobriety and about others who had struggled through addiction. Since then, its become progressively easier to stay sober. I’ve changed a lot and taught myself to recognize when I am under stress and developed new methods of handling boredom, stress and disappointment.
This site has been a good resource for me. I feel that I have a much better understanding of some things that I have not personally experienced because of the stories that people have shared on this site and it’s been both a support and education for me.
I’ve never been to AA. I have read enough here to know that its been a lifeline for many people. I think that’s great but I don’t think its the only way. I think that sobriety, like most things in life, is individualized. What works for some, may not work for others.
When I was drinking, I couldn’t imagine a life without alcohol. It seemed like my life would be so dreary and awful without it. I was so wrong.
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