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.
I started drinking to cope with social anxiety, fit in, feel more confident, many reasons. I was so young, 13! My parents were rather neglectful so I was able to hide it. I had a lot of freedom as a kid.
I found a boyfriend at age 16 who was into pot. It didn't make me throw up like alchol but I didn't really like how it made me feel, but I kept trying for 10 years, then I started to use it alone for another 10 years, and I ended up
...a marijuana addict
...my career was in a bar and I could never say no to alcohol or stop drinking at just one. I was drinking and driving on a regular basis.
My boyfrienda at the time turned from pot to crack and this was my bottom where I had a moment of clarity about my pot addiction, so I tried to stop, and turned to spirituality. I took me over a year to get some help in 12 step rooms and realize, I needed to stop drinking in order to be sober.
I was tired of drinking and driving and not being able to say no. I wanted sobriety, I had connected with people who had longterm sobriety in marijuana anonymous, and I wasn't able to go to enough meetings because it wasn't easily accessable. So I looked into AA.
If it wasn't for attending AA I don't think I could have admitted I couldn't do this alone.
It has been 3 years since I had a drink.
In AA WE learn how to abstain from alchol ONE DAY AT A TIME. We learn that no human power can relieve us. We learn that we have an allergy of the body, an obsession of the mind, and the phenomenon of craving. We learn this together, thanks to the founders of AA who learned through much trial and error what works, and how this program has turned from 2 people into millions in a matter of years.
I learned by working step 1 that I had tried to manage my feelings for my lifetime by using alcohol and drugs. My feelings didn't go away, I just prevented myself from learning to cope with them.
I learned that one drink or one binge was never going to satisfy my craving, that only abstaining one day at a time would my body learn to live without alcohol.
I learned in step 2 that I had tried for so long to live life without my concept of a higher power and by running on self will I was out of God's will, so in step 3 I learned to turn my will over to the care of God and learn what is in God's will, and trust that I have God's help.
In step 4 I had to look at years of fears and resentments and hurtful behavior and see the pattern of holding onto these things, that I was letting my shortcomings get the best of me. I was allowing myself to be ruled by those parts of me that were not going to help me live a life in God's will, sober. I learned in step 5 to admit this stuff mostly to MYSELF that I had to let God take these things from me in steps 6 and 7, please God remove from me such things as self centeredness, resentments, fears, dishonesty, self pity, inconsiderateness.
In step 8 I learned to look at how those people I resented I had a part in the dysfunction, and to admit in step 9 MY part in all this that I felt so uncomfortable with. I had to admit my wrongs and learn to change them. I am here now with a ways to go.
My sponsor (Oh yeah I didn't do these steps alone, NO WAY) told me I could start steps 10, 11 and 12 right away. I had learned how to take an inventory in step 4, and on a daily basis I could look into my fears and resentments and see MY part in them, and turn them over to God. I could pray and meditate and seek to communicate, share and listen, to God as I understand God. I could pray for God's will, for knowlege of God's will and the power and strength to carry that out. I could share the message of AA and MA to others in whatever capacity I could, and when I started step 9 my sponsor told me when I was ready, I could start to sponsor. I cried. Two days later a woman asked me if I would sponsor her. Giving this gift to someone else that someone has given me is so precious. Recovering from alcoholism and drug addiction really are about getting out of self and learning to share what I have learned with someone else.
I hope you don't mind me sharing this big long thing with you. I do not want to scare you off. I am telling you what has worked for me and millions others. If you can go out and try to drink like a lady or a gentleman, maybe you are not among the millions of alcoholics who use the fellowship of AA and the 12 steps to recover. If you are one of us, you are welcome to join us if you want, the only requirement is a desire to quit drinking.
I'm sorry for coming off with a big AA story, this is the only way I have been able to stay sober. I couldn't get sober until I could...
#1 Admit I couldn't get sober and had a problem
#2 Let God and others help me through AA, MA and the 12 steps
#3 Keep coming back, one day at a time, and focus on my progress, not perfection.
I found a boyfriend at age 16 who was into pot. It didn't make me throw up like alchol but I didn't really like how it made me feel, but I kept trying for 10 years, then I started to use it alone for another 10 years, and I ended up
...a marijuana addict
...my career was in a bar and I could never say no to alcohol or stop drinking at just one. I was drinking and driving on a regular basis.
My boyfrienda at the time turned from pot to crack and this was my bottom where I had a moment of clarity about my pot addiction, so I tried to stop, and turned to spirituality. I took me over a year to get some help in 12 step rooms and realize, I needed to stop drinking in order to be sober.
I was tired of drinking and driving and not being able to say no. I wanted sobriety, I had connected with people who had longterm sobriety in marijuana anonymous, and I wasn't able to go to enough meetings because it wasn't easily accessable. So I looked into AA.
If it wasn't for attending AA I don't think I could have admitted I couldn't do this alone.
It has been 3 years since I had a drink.
In AA WE learn how to abstain from alchol ONE DAY AT A TIME. We learn that no human power can relieve us. We learn that we have an allergy of the body, an obsession of the mind, and the phenomenon of craving. We learn this together, thanks to the founders of AA who learned through much trial and error what works, and how this program has turned from 2 people into millions in a matter of years.
I learned by working step 1 that I had tried to manage my feelings for my lifetime by using alcohol and drugs. My feelings didn't go away, I just prevented myself from learning to cope with them.
I learned that one drink or one binge was never going to satisfy my craving, that only abstaining one day at a time would my body learn to live without alcohol.
I learned in step 2 that I had tried for so long to live life without my concept of a higher power and by running on self will I was out of God's will, so in step 3 I learned to turn my will over to the care of God and learn what is in God's will, and trust that I have God's help.
In step 4 I had to look at years of fears and resentments and hurtful behavior and see the pattern of holding onto these things, that I was letting my shortcomings get the best of me. I was allowing myself to be ruled by those parts of me that were not going to help me live a life in God's will, sober. I learned in step 5 to admit this stuff mostly to MYSELF that I had to let God take these things from me in steps 6 and 7, please God remove from me such things as self centeredness, resentments, fears, dishonesty, self pity, inconsiderateness.
In step 8 I learned to look at how those people I resented I had a part in the dysfunction, and to admit in step 9 MY part in all this that I felt so uncomfortable with. I had to admit my wrongs and learn to change them. I am here now with a ways to go.
My sponsor (Oh yeah I didn't do these steps alone, NO WAY) told me I could start steps 10, 11 and 12 right away. I had learned how to take an inventory in step 4, and on a daily basis I could look into my fears and resentments and see MY part in them, and turn them over to God. I could pray and meditate and seek to communicate, share and listen, to God as I understand God. I could pray for God's will, for knowlege of God's will and the power and strength to carry that out. I could share the message of AA and MA to others in whatever capacity I could, and when I started step 9 my sponsor told me when I was ready, I could start to sponsor. I cried. Two days later a woman asked me if I would sponsor her. Giving this gift to someone else that someone has given me is so precious. Recovering from alcoholism and drug addiction really are about getting out of self and learning to share what I have learned with someone else.
I hope you don't mind me sharing this big long thing with you. I do not want to scare you off. I am telling you what has worked for me and millions others. If you can go out and try to drink like a lady or a gentleman, maybe you are not among the millions of alcoholics who use the fellowship of AA and the 12 steps to recover. If you are one of us, you are welcome to join us if you want, the only requirement is a desire to quit drinking.
I'm sorry for coming off with a big AA story, this is the only way I have been able to stay sober. I couldn't get sober until I could...
#1 Admit I couldn't get sober and had a problem
#2 Let God and others help me through AA, MA and the 12 steps
#3 Keep coming back, one day at a time, and focus on my progress, not perfection.
deleted_user
Loved1 You have given me hope i am just starting out on my 12 step journey and your story speaks to my heart I Thank You
deleted_user
I will make a long story short. I started drinking when I was 15 and then I was doing many drugs but towards my bottom which that was walking out on my hubby and kids( still with them now) I was doing cocaine and drinking vodka straight and i never saw it coming. I went into a 28 day inpatient center and got out on thankgiving day and now I am in after care. I goto alot of meetings and have a great sponsor and work the steps. THank you for sharing your story with us.
deleted_user
thanks for sharing.... and yes that is what it is all about......... my story... well just like everyone elses mostly...... i drank i used i got sick and tired of being sick and tired..... i want this life i have now..... even with all the steps ahead of me...... i won't drink or use today...... and that is what matters to me..........
deleted_user
I started weekend binge drinking at the age of 14 and throughout the years went from daily drinking back to weekends and everything in between. I had a brief but scarey affair with cocaine which landed me in my first rehab at a very young age but I refused to accept that alcohol was my drug of choice. I think I really began to accept it about 3 years ago but it took me that long to really understand that I couldn't recover without the help of the 12 step program and AA. Before I got to this point it all sounded like a foreign language to me.
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