Originally Posted by
ananda 
well... i will have to think on this one....but it does sound to me like you don't need/want any of the things that a group can provide...so maybe you simply don't need a group.
I do wonder though...what do you get from SR....for me I get the same thing from SR that I get from AA/NA.....only thing is SR gives me a little more depth and f2f can give me some of the hugs and smiles and stuff that internet doesn't provide....course i don't have a close family group and am not exactly finding a lot of friends just poping out of the woodwork...so if you have a number of close friends and relatives...maybe those physical presence things aren't missing from your life.
I think I already knew this before, but reading your comment reinforces my thoughts. That is, whether or not I
need a group is one thing. I'm still trying to figure that out. I know, however, that I do not
want to have anything to do with one. My shrink says "That's just your disease talking." I think he sees alcoholics as people who have been possessed by demons or something else that controls our minds to the point we can no longer think for ourselves. If alcoholics really are incapable of rational thought, then perhaps I'm either not an alcoholic, or I'm delusional.
As for a close family group, I have a wife and 3 year old. They are the only two people in this world I need. Perhaps what I get from SR is the ability to talk to others, to listen to them, but to always have that "easy out" of being able to not reply or bail out entirely. I learned long ago to quit making future plans with people while I was drunk. No matter how fun it sounded at the time to plan to get together with someone at a later date, I always regretted it when I sobered up. I'm a lot happier now that I don't socialize other than politely at the office.
In reading what I've said here, I know I must sound miserable. Perhaps I really am. After all, "unhappiness" is why I went to the Dr. in the first place (the Dr. who sent me to AA). I know that if I tell him I don't see socializing with others as a way to become happier, he'll tell me, again, that it's my disease talking. Perhaps he's right. After all, I haven't socialized with anyone outside of work for 20 years without alcohol in my system.