Hi Page Keeper & Everyone Else,
AA was not the only way I got sober and was able to stay sober. It gave me a lot of information and sober friends to help me stay sober. I still had to use the steps in my daily life to keep the insanity of it all away so I could do what I could to help myself.
My Depression (since a teenager) was treated at the same time with another counselor that helped me find my way out of the darkness & insanity of my life.
I couldn't get the Spiritual Awakening until one day I was looking out my livingroom window at a Thunder Storm with wind, rain, & sunshine. The sun seemed to melt into me and brought me a calming and peaceful emotional feeling within my Heart & whole soul.
When I went to Treatment our group was listening to a tape...I could not understand a word it was saying...but the day before I left they played the tape again & I could understand everything that was said. That was just a very little part of how sick I was with my alcoholism.
The Big Book and the AA Meetings gave me the tools to be able to help myself walk the road to recovery. No "one" way or thing or person helped me stay sober...I had to do that with a lot of input from others plus a lot of reading on my part to help me understand it all.
kelsh