Lindauk

Hi there Im new to the group but really looking forward to getting help and advice from you and support. The issue I have is I don't believe in God or Jesus. I did once gosh I even used to be a Sunday school teacher, I lost that faith many years ago. I find alot of people mention their faith in the road to recovery and I think that's wonderful for them to have that. I worry that I wont be able to pull on a higher strength in the dark days and Iv let myself down this way before. I don't really have a higher power. I have faith in the universe and all the wonderful things that are in this world. Id love to speak to any others who feel like this but have found other ways to work with this. Thank you all in advance. I know my mum has found a great agnostic group in Canada. But over here in Scotland I come from quite a rural area and I called them up to ask if they knew about any agnostic groups. Oh my you would have thought I was some sort of Devil worshipper the lady was not amused. I know this is a one of persons opinion because Iv met others at my wee local group who are all Christians but they dont mind that Im not and I don't mind they are but I sometimes just feel a bit alone if that makes sense.

Terminally Unique

Hello there. The Higher Power concept is only necessary for the 12-Step programs, or ones like Alcoholics Victorious that rely on scripture. There are other approaches available, though, such as SMART Recovery, or AVRT from Rational Recovery.

If you are simply looking for support, though, stick around, I'm sure others will chime in soon. I do know that LifeRing Secular Recovery has an online forum which is pretty inclusive towards individual beliefs, and that SMART has online meetings, although I no longer participate in either myself. You may want to look into them to supplement this forum, however.

Drexo

Welcome here Lindauk!

Like AVRT mentions: there are more opportunities out there on the road to recovery. Your message reminded me of the video I've posted in this section a few days ago, regarding recovery along with faith in god. You might be interested in seeing it:

Secular and Sober: Beating Alcoholism Without AA - YouTube

kanamit

I'd start by reading Allen Carr's EasyWay to Control Alcohol. It really helps you change your perception of alcohol. That can give you great encouragement.

MycoolFitz

Welcome, thanks for the post. Belief and faith, good topics. God or Jesus, don't know. My problem was I didn't believe in or have faith in myself. Now I do. However you work it, if you work it, and believe and have faith in yourself, there are many paths divergent paths to follow or blaze your own. Whatever one(s) lead to sobriety is(are) pretty damn great in my book. All my best.

BennyHill

Lindauk,

Welcome. I have beliefs similar to yours. If you care to, you can do some reading on some Eastern religions and philosophies. A lot of people weave some yogic or Buddhist philosophy into their sobriety, and it works out pretty well!
And people on this site are very open and non-judgemental about beliefs and higher power stuff.

Good luck, and would love to hear more from you!

LaFemme

Welcome!

I second the Allen Carr book recommendation. It is one of my cornerstones. Hang out with us...we are always a good time....at least when we are around...gets a little quiet at times.

KariSue

Would the Allen Carr book be as helpful for drug addiction as it is for alcohol problems?

I'm just asking because I'm the mom of a son who has a problem with drugs moreso than alcohol.

To me there seems to be no difference but what do I know so I'm just asking to make sure.

Thanks, KariSue

Zencat

Welcome to SoberRecovery Lindauk.

There are no agnostics meetings where I live too. However I do attend meetings for the real world support. As a non-theist I do have an addiction treatment plan, that being a varied assortment of healthy living tools. I borrow from all over the place like; SMART, LifeRing, Zen, CBT and whatever else feels helpful.

As for attending faith based self-help meetings. I use what is meaningful to me a forget the meaningless stuff. The closest I come to a HP is knowing that 'Helping People' have made a big difference in my life.

raindancer11

Welcome

While many people need face to face support, many have also quit drinking and stayed that way using this site, online tools and books. What really helped me is to read and post on this site as part of my daily routine. There are many kindred spirits here that I can "talk" to. Some days were easy and some were very dark like you mentioned. Having a sober outlet is very important. Glad you posted.

shockozulu

Welcome. SMARTRECOVERY.Org was where my road to recovery started. In fact I'm a trained facilitator
Talk about getting my recovery in full gear. They also offer online and face to face meetings. I now supplement my recovery with another program but without SMART I wouldn't be here. It saved my life.

checkmate1

All this higher power stuff I don't really get either. Apparently it can be anything. I am not religous. I believe in family, friends, keeping in good health and spirits, not drinking or drugging, talking to my doctors, listening to music, accepting change anything is possible and the sky is the limit. Welcome to the secular side of the forums.

LaFemme

Kari Sue. I believe his organization wrote a book using the same method for drug addiction. Carr died severL years ago sadly.

kanamit

I'm not aware of a book on other drugs, although I have been told the smoking one has a chapter on it (I wouldn't know as I have not read that one).

He did publish a book called Scandal right before he died which I believe had some general information on drugs and the drugs company. Again I haven't read this but you can read it for free as a PDF.

Google Scandal by Allen Carr and it's the first PDF link (currently second on Google).

EasyWay works for any drug though with the basic tenet being your body is made of strong stuff and you don't need any outside drug to enjoy or cope with life. The high from drug addiction is the illusory ending of a low that the drug itself created in the first place.

Lindauk

I cant thank you all enough for the support and the great information. I also bit the bullet and went along to my wee tiny rural meeting and blurbed out my own form of universal spiritual, humanist nearly paganism holistic belief system ( on reading that back I suppose I'm not really completely agnostic I have my own inclines of my beliefs if that even makes sense lol) anyway!!!! they were wonderful amazing. Mostly Christian one Buddhist all who totally accepted me and helped me with different ways to look at the 12 steps. I loved them all to bits. I found on-line agnostic 12 steps and pagan 12 steps and have kind of combined them a bit. I have looked at AVRT and really like it thanks for the tip and I'm going to get the Allen Carr book. I use SMART in my work and can see how it would work here. Im so glad I found this group and all you wonderful people. It means so much to me to be able to have a support network like you living where I do in the sticks. I can see you all now thinking of me in a kilt chasing haggis around the mountains minus a bottle of whisky though lol

Lindauk

I'm so sorry I just realised you don't have the 12 steps mentioned here even though I wasn't talking about the Judea Christian ones I hope Iv not offended or upset any one I just didn't know how to delete and rewrite, oh feck trust me if I can mess up I generally do xx

HuskyPup

Hey there, and welcome! I use a 'combination' approach, here, mainly my self, plus a pagan-ish version of the steps (spiral steps), and also have found I can't do the AA routine as written. But there are many other routes, luckily!

I always have this fantasy image of Scotland as this magic place...just the accent is so lovely! I'm across the pond, near DC.

Morning Glory

Hi Lindauk,

We have the Secular 12 Step forum right under this forum if you wish to discuss 12 step meetings. You haven't offended anyone so no worries.

BennyHill

Happy to hear things are going well, heathen! (Just kidding!)
Hope you continue to be happy and healthy!

Neagrm

Take what you need and leave the rest - like AA says :-)