I fear that part of the struggles that I'm having in embracing recovery is because I'm still fighting to preserve who I think that I've always been. I recently told this to my sponsor. I get discouraged when it seems that others accept things more easily than I accept them and, therefore, they make better progress.

It's hard to think that I have to lay everything down in order to pick up a twelve-step way of life. I'm not even sure that it's a way of life that I really want. To be...

I've seen that pasted on many local bumper stickers and, although I don't sport such a sticker on my Subaru (I'd rather tout the joys of climbing), I agree completely. We have some mean-spirited people on SR. I know; they've replied to some of my threads. That's one of the reasons that I don't start very many threads on SR. I'll reply to the threads of others, but to put Christin's name on a thread and to announce that it's "Open Season on Christin" -- no thanks.

Why there...

Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average....

My sponsor sent me a link for the following article. I think that it's an incredible piece on addiction and why twelve-step programs work. I have made it part of my blog because I plan to reference it often and, this way, I can direct people to my blog to read it.

As a Christian, I feel compelled to post a disclaimer that the good rabbi's theology is incomplete. When he comments on the Genesis quote: "Let us create man in our own image," he does not have the benefit of...

What does IOP stand for?
I thought that it stood for Intensive Outpatient Therapy.
Intensive: 3 hours
Outpatient: get to go home afterward
Therapy: specially trained individuals to help me to understand the disease of addiction
Although I've only attended two sessions, that has not been my experience at all.

In fact, tonight's IOP was a disaster for me. After repeating yesterday's experience of sitting in a circle for an hour with the counselor...