Alcoholism Support Group
Alcoholism is the continued consumption of alcoholic beverages, even when it is negatively affecting your health, work, relationships and life. If you think alcohol is causing you to lose control, it's time to seek help. Our group is a safe place to vent, check in, get back up if you fall, and reach sobriety.
Hi. I wonder if I can be of some help on this site. I have a lot of experience with addiction/alcoholism and recovery. My latest clean date is Oct. 28th, 2002. I was also clean from 6-88 to 12-94, and from 4-98 to 9-02. It has been a hell of a long haul and I am lucky to be alive as well as not having injured anyone else too badly. Alcoholism sucks and it is hard to beat. I read rational recovery and it reminded me of the "just say no" approach to keep kids from using drugs. It's not enough for me. I am a hard core addict who went so far as to stick needles in my arms. I am a black out drunk and my last drinking spree was so scary it only lasted 48 days. Alcohol got a hold of me and I was it's slave until I dragged myself back to AA and threw myself into their program even though it's a brainwashing technique I abhor.
You see, for whatever reason I drank, I drank and it put me to sleep. AA gives people an awakening. I needed that. The support cannot be matched. It is all over the world. But I am an atheist and not much into deluding my thinking more than I already do. AA is clearly not my cup of tea. Unfortunately man can fly to the moon, but the 12 steps are the best option if someone as bad as me wants to recover and stay alive. There are many like me and most go back to drinking or insanity or both.
The good thing about AA is after my brain was washed I got to hang dry it. In the meantime it kept me sober. AA doesn't prove there's a God but it does suggest a little bit about how the brain operates. I will keep going to meetings to help the next alcoholic, especially the next atheist alcoholic. They are experts on staying sober. In any situation there is a room full of people who have gone through every kind of shit you can imagine and stay sober.
I guess it's a question only myself can answer as to whether I believe in the medical model of addiction and I do for me. Once I drink I am off and running and I cannot quit till alcohol is done with me. Something goes on physically for me, I believe. If all we had to do was say no, then so many people would not die, kill others, or go insane from this "disease". I tend to think rational recovery takes a back seat to the direness of the situation.
Anyhow, I'm doing great. I have no urge to be an alcoholic again at this time. A person needs to have a chance. If you can awaken from the slumbering alcoholic state for long enough, you have a good chance to go on and get inspired to live awake again. So don't be afraid to go to AA where there are rooms full of every type of alcoholic you can think of, and give yourself a chance. I know I need the help. I probably always will. As an atheist, I have found a valuable roll in AA too.
Anything I can do for you, helps me too, and I truly admire people who have trouble with AA. "God" knows I do! lol.
You see, for whatever reason I drank, I drank and it put me to sleep. AA gives people an awakening. I needed that. The support cannot be matched. It is all over the world. But I am an atheist and not much into deluding my thinking more than I already do. AA is clearly not my cup of tea. Unfortunately man can fly to the moon, but the 12 steps are the best option if someone as bad as me wants to recover and stay alive. There are many like me and most go back to drinking or insanity or both.
The good thing about AA is after my brain was washed I got to hang dry it. In the meantime it kept me sober. AA doesn't prove there's a God but it does suggest a little bit about how the brain operates. I will keep going to meetings to help the next alcoholic, especially the next atheist alcoholic. They are experts on staying sober. In any situation there is a room full of people who have gone through every kind of shit you can imagine and stay sober.
I guess it's a question only myself can answer as to whether I believe in the medical model of addiction and I do for me. Once I drink I am off and running and I cannot quit till alcohol is done with me. Something goes on physically for me, I believe. If all we had to do was say no, then so many people would not die, kill others, or go insane from this "disease". I tend to think rational recovery takes a back seat to the direness of the situation.
Anyhow, I'm doing great. I have no urge to be an alcoholic again at this time. A person needs to have a chance. If you can awaken from the slumbering alcoholic state for long enough, you have a good chance to go on and get inspired to live awake again. So don't be afraid to go to AA where there are rooms full of every type of alcoholic you can think of, and give yourself a chance. I know I need the help. I probably always will. As an atheist, I have found a valuable roll in AA too.
Anything I can do for you, helps me too, and I truly admire people who have trouble with AA. "God" knows I do! lol.
See I reckon when we push past that fear, some of us find a little more depth and weight to it. Just my opinion though hehe :)
I often wonder, if I found a magic purse that never ran out of Gold Coins, would I throw it away because it 'wasn't rational'?!
Glad you're sober and have a solution, all the best
P
I know a couple of AAs who say they are atheist and they form their own concept of Higher Power which is cool. One atheist helping another is bound to bridge some gaps. Helping one another is so important to helping maintain sobriety, as you know.
In contrast to you, AA is very much my cup of tea and God is everything to me, it wasn't always that way but that changed some years ago and I am happily sober too.
I don't subscribe to being brainwashed in AA, I am a willing seeker of truth and what I am looking at is AAs adoption of age-old wisdom fashioned into a set program of recovery, a necessary deflation of ego at depth to gain humility. Necessary for an alcoholic like me.
Alcoholism takes all prisoners and I've heard it said around the rooms that "AA has a wrench for every nut." That's probably true as most people who really want to try can find a way to incorporate the tenets of the program into their daily lives.
I went from Florida AA to Utah AA at 5 years sober and the beauty of that was I became more acutely aware of the need to continue to grow along spiritual lines in a way that suited me and less in a way that required me to defend what I'd already found in AA to be true! I was only a cog in the wheel .
But the real secret was as a (ol fart) long term AA er was to become even more genuine and less caught up in what I felt threatened me .
I'm pretty sure that happened as a result of continuing my 10th ,11th and 12th step work as is suggested and less through the lack of the fear of having to work along spiritual lines in a small box, where as what I was sure What i had to say to others only carried about as much weight "again" as to How Genuine I was still becoming in challenging my beliefs.
Especially , "now" those I had acquired after getting sober.
Billy
I am also confused why you admire people who have trouble with AA? And if so, should I be admiring those who can't hack Rational Recovery?
I am sorry for my confusing and confounding response to a passionate post. Maybe my brain has been washed too often to comprehend certain things ;)
Welcome to DS.
AA works for people who believe in God.
AA works for people who don't believe in God.
AA dosen't work for people who believe they are God.
Thank God for AA and thank AA for God.
Keep Coming Back It Works If You Let It.
We're not asked to believe in anything that's the beauty eh? It works
Lorna, a word cannot harm anyone, try to look at the fear you have with it instead. Therein lies the harm. The AA BB says that fear itself is an evil and corrosive thread, that our lives are shot through with it.
To me, faith conquers fear and that is a huge part of what keeps me well.