Success with SMART?
Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: San Diego
Posts: 4,451
Hi, Ttal.
I'm not in SMART, but stay tuned. We have some folks here who who have benefited enormously. It gets a little slow around here on Saturday nights... I think that's a testament to the success people are having with the various approaches.
I'm not in SMART, but stay tuned. We have some folks here who who have benefited enormously. It gets a little slow around here on Saturday nights... I think that's a testament to the success people are having with the various approaches.
Self recovered Self discovered
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Toronto Canada
Posts: 5,148
There is a great advocate for SMART here, a frequent poster, who is known as OnlyTheTruth (OTT are your ears ringing yet?). In the meanwhile, please make google your friend, and have a good look at Self Help Substance Abuse & Addiction Recovery | SMART RecoveryŽ, and you can do some more reading about Albert Ellis too, and rebt. Smart teaches self empowerment and reliance on your own abilities-it teaches tools that will last a lifetime, to help you make the choice to get sober and to make it stick. It's good stuff.
I think that 'normal' people, like my Ma for instance, use SMART techniques for mental health and positive ways to cope with life, without ever having heard of REBT or Dr. Ellis. I have learned to incorporate SMART tools into my sobriety like meditation and mindfulness, cost benefit comparisons, etc. It makes me wonder would I have become addicted to alcohol in the first place if I had known and used these things? Hmmmmmm.
I think that 'normal' people, like my Ma for instance, use SMART techniques for mental health and positive ways to cope with life, without ever having heard of REBT or Dr. Ellis. I have learned to incorporate SMART tools into my sobriety like meditation and mindfulness, cost benefit comparisons, etc. It makes me wonder would I have become addicted to alcohol in the first place if I had known and used these things? Hmmmmmm.
Member of SMART Recovery
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,722
Ha! I knew I had a funny feeling in my ears! I was away over labor day and am just checking back in here.
I'm not terribly into counting time but the anniversary of my last drink just went by, 14 years now, so I would have to call myself a success.
I'm a SMART member, although I didn't get involved in SMART until I had been abstinent for about 9 years. I was in a different program for those 9 years, really struggling, not so much with abstinence but with trying to reconcile my own worldview with the philosophy of that program. It was particularly the notion of Powerlessness and the need for an outside power that was most problematic for me. So when I found SMART Recovery, which has the opposite focus--Empowerment--I was thrilled. I was also thrilled when I joined up and they told me (get this) that after 9 years I probably didn't need them! "After 9 years you know perfectly well how to live a sober life," they said. My answer was: "Where the heck WERE you folks 9 years ago????"
So I got involved not because I felt I needed a program at that point in my life, but because I wanted people like me to have a choice. I know now that I am not the only person in the world who finds social support helpful, but who would prefer that social support be packaged in a philosophy of empowerment...and that the tools for sobriety be tools for sobriety, not tools for harnessing an outside force.
Anyway, I can answer most questions about SMART and for those I can't answer I'd suggest the best way to find out about the program is to go to the website and click around...and be sure to sign up for the online message board.
Self Help Substance Abuse & Addiction Recovery | SMART RecoveryŽ
I'm not terribly into counting time but the anniversary of my last drink just went by, 14 years now, so I would have to call myself a success.
I'm a SMART member, although I didn't get involved in SMART until I had been abstinent for about 9 years. I was in a different program for those 9 years, really struggling, not so much with abstinence but with trying to reconcile my own worldview with the philosophy of that program. It was particularly the notion of Powerlessness and the need for an outside power that was most problematic for me. So when I found SMART Recovery, which has the opposite focus--Empowerment--I was thrilled. I was also thrilled when I joined up and they told me (get this) that after 9 years I probably didn't need them! "After 9 years you know perfectly well how to live a sober life," they said. My answer was: "Where the heck WERE you folks 9 years ago????"
So I got involved not because I felt I needed a program at that point in my life, but because I wanted people like me to have a choice. I know now that I am not the only person in the world who finds social support helpful, but who would prefer that social support be packaged in a philosophy of empowerment...and that the tools for sobriety be tools for sobriety, not tools for harnessing an outside force.
Anyway, I can answer most questions about SMART and for those I can't answer I'd suggest the best way to find out about the program is to go to the website and click around...and be sure to sign up for the online message board.
Self Help Substance Abuse & Addiction Recovery | SMART RecoveryŽ
Self recovered Self discovered
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Toronto Canada
Posts: 5,148
Ttal914, I have been in your shoes, waiting for some email from a website. Someone suggested that it might have slipped into my spam mailbox by mistake. Lo, behold also, there it was. Have a look there, maybe?
Member
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Southern US
Posts: 14
Hi,
I'm only 10 days sober. But I'm feeling great!
I'm seeing a CBT therapist and attending SMART meetings. I really respond well to and NEED to feel enpowered to change my own life
My therapist suggested this was a fantastic program for me. So I chose at home detox followed by intensive one on one therapy and SMART.
So far I'm loving it and doing well with my new life.
I'm only 10 days sober. But I'm feeling great!
I'm seeing a CBT therapist and attending SMART meetings. I really respond well to and NEED to feel enpowered to change my own life
My therapist suggested this was a fantastic program for me. So I chose at home detox followed by intensive one on one therapy and SMART.
So far I'm loving it and doing well with my new life.
Self recovered Self discovered
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Toronto Canada
Posts: 5,148
Welcome to the secular side of SR, MissLou, and congratulations to you on your sobriety. 10 days is great! I know very well the feeling of power I got when I chose to believe that I could stop drinking if I wanted to, and I wanted to. I was told over and over that I would never be able to do this, that I was powerless. Phooey.
What does this mean for us, MissLou, if we never were really limited in this way? What else can we achieve if we can only believe that we can?
Please keep posting here, it's great to learn of another's success.
What does this mean for us, MissLou, if we never were really limited in this way? What else can we achieve if we can only believe that we can?
Please keep posting here, it's great to learn of another's success.
Pa**ot Momma
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Baltimore, MD
Posts: 149
Welcome.
I am working on my sobriety using SMART and AVRT. It is making a huge difference telling the AV to kiss off when on my way home and it suggests grabbing a drink. I intend to start attending SMART meetings however the closest is about an hour from home.
I am working on my sobriety using SMART and AVRT. It is making a huge difference telling the AV to kiss off when on my way home and it suggests grabbing a drink. I intend to start attending SMART meetings however the closest is about an hour from home.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Southern California
Posts: 365
Hmmm... Good stuff... I am on day 3 and honestly although I have been a "member" for years with many years of sobriety I have always had issues with the powerlessness part... I love the fellowship, I just don't buy into the whole magical powers will keep me sober. It has been enlightening to find out there are programs that empower...
I mean momma always said I can do anything in this world I want if I put my mind to it. This is a total contradiction to the program I have been practicing for the last 11 years...
Go figure...
I mean momma always said I can do anything in this world I want if I put my mind to it. This is a total contradiction to the program I have been practicing for the last 11 years...
Go figure...
Self recovered Self discovered
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Toronto Canada
Posts: 5,148
Wifi, welcome to the secular side. Yes, you are all you need to get and stay sober for good. Yes, you are right it is the opposite of what you have been told for 11 years. Yes, I am sorry that it happened.
Why would you let someone of dubious credentials tell you what you can and cannot achieve? Don't get me started. Welcome again.
Why would you let someone of dubious credentials tell you what you can and cannot achieve? Don't get me started. Welcome again.
Member of SMART Recovery
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,722
I tried for years to believe I was powerless too...one of the best things I have ever done for myself was to accept that I don't believe I'm powerless and never did. In fact, one of the most powerFUL things I have ever done for myself was to quit drinking!!!
I often say that the most important thing I ever learned in that other program was engraved on the back of those medallions they used to give out: "To thine own self be true".
I often say that the most important thing I ever learned in that other program was engraved on the back of those medallions they used to give out: "To thine own self be true".
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: "I'm not lost for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost ..."
Posts: 5,273
Originally Posted by onlythetruth
I often say that the most important thing I ever learned in that other program was engraved on the back of those medallions they used to give out: "To thine own self be true".
Member of SMART Recovery
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,722
Originally Posted by soberlicious 
I have the above words from Shakespeare tattooed on my back. Staying true to yourself can mean going against the grain of popular belief. Scary sometimes, yes...but worth it to find freedom. Another adage comes to mind. "There is nothing to fear, but fear itself."
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