Hello Lorrie. I followed your bread crumb trail from the PTSD forum where I have been a member since ??? 2009 or so. I find myself mildly surprised to discover this forum is here. I have been in therapy for the aftershocks of child sex trafficking since 1972. My relationship with Alanon began around the same time. Alanon has been my most consistent therapy thread in that long and winding road to recovery.

I notice this is a very slow-moving forum with comparatively small membership, but I'm putting it on my newsfeed to see what grows.

Nice to meet you, Arfie. Yes, the forums on DS seem rather slow moving in general. Although, I noticed some are frequented a bit more. The more I think about my life and where it needs to be going, the more I feel it's past time to get back to Alanon. Seems I need more motivation to be productive at times. Holidays always seem stressful, memories of past stresses I guess. I like that Alanon takes our head out of the co-dependence and more into focusing on what we are doing.

I fell away from routine group participation after 2008 when I returned from a year and a half in Ecuador to find my stateside home group radically changed. All the people I knew were gone and the new chemistry felt more slanted toward rule enforcement than healing hopes. I have been floundering ever since. My willingness to keep trying has grown weaker with each failure to mesh. Within the past year, even my daily habit of reading the daily meditation readers has fallen away. It shows in my emotional stability. Alanon was my emotional Rock of Ages for allot of years.

Some days I believe I have found my support niche here on DS. Other days I think it is just another social media addiction. Pass the e-crack.

Still waffling. . .

I wonder that too, the social media addiction. "Pass the e-crack!" that's funny. I think Facebook is the worst since I don't care to see a lot of negativity or political spite. After checking in, I can get sucked in for a while, and then bring myself to log out. Singers can go to SingSnap to socialize and share a song, join a contest of sorts too. I'm in one now that is not really a vocal contest but more a way of sharing experiences through song. Seems the healthiest part of alanon for me was about taking the focus of what we can do for others to what are we doing for ourselves. I never did find the group scenario to be very open and inviting though. I went 3 or 4 times, brought home the book and workbook and just haven't been back again in a while. When I went through a time last year without transportation, I stopped going.

I'm sorry your local group changed so much while you were away. Maybe on the daily readers, it's time for some new inspiration. I have two of those books and haven't had them out at all. I do best with a calendar and a goal/to-do list to keep me on track with what I'm doing that's productive. :)

I am an old tech warhorse who has been working the internet dream since 1973. My first flirtations with on-line support groups came across a military point-to-point teletype connections with fellow GI's on assignment behind the "Iron Curtain." Are you old enough and/or history buff enough to remember the Iron Curtain? In 1973, the addictive power of the on-line connections was well-known enough for the Signal Corps to have generated a great many regulations on the subject. Our on-line support group could have cost all of us our careers. I was, "PizzaFace." PF for short.

Are DS and FB all that different from the myriad of connection formats and websites I've worked since. The main difference I see is size. The masses have arrived.

Yea, I've been working the theory that my inability to find a new Alanon home group means only that it's time for some new inspiration. I'm not overly confident on how well I'm doing on that goal, but. . . Stepping small and praying big while I work with what Life sends me.

I do remember the term "Iron Curtain" and the fake term "net neutrality." Possibly more recently though. My mom has always been on top of all of this - sending me an article here and there. I think she's the one who tuned me into the whole idea behind net neutrality.

Back before yahoo and possibly AOL, I think the first email I had was netcomm or something and I just took a look online, and "prodigy" sounds familiar as well? I remember dial up well. Now I'll have to double check and see what it was we used to have back then.

I like your idea of stepping small and praying big. There are some local groups I enjoy, like my writing group a social/goals type group, and I really need a few more productive groups. It's good to check things out. Now that it's getting a bit cooler in temperature, it's easier to enjoy getting out more.