Originally Posted by keithj

One thing jumps out at me about the unoriginality of this thread. It is an in depth discussion about one person's opinion of recovery without having any experience with recovery. And that's cool. It's how we learn from others.

But here is the reality of my own recovery. My opinions don't matter. For example, my opinion of AA is that it's a big placebo, back door to religion, brainwashing, dependent on AA for life, crutch for weak minded people. My experience with AA is that it's kept me sober for years and given me a life way better than I had ever known before. It fundamentally changed my reaction to my life. And with that change, the drink problem was gone.

I could have held onto my opinion and never had the experience. Sure glad I didn't do that. The only reason I was willing to suspend my opinion was that I saw it working for others. I saw a bunch of people who talked about drinking just like I did. They understood from their own experience how crazy it was for me to keep drinking. And they seemed happy and comfortable, and they hadn't drank in years. I could not deny the proof of their example. It didn't matter what I thought or believed or what my opinion was. They stood as living proof of how to get sober and be happy about it.

That proof is not limited to AA. If what I'm doing stops working some day, I'll again look to those who have been successful. Dee and Anna are both great examples of people who are sober and seem to be happy about it (even passionate and enthusiastic about it). Instead of debating what they believe and what I believe, I would do what they have done.

Daphne, I'm not sure why you are here. Presumedly, you think you may have a drinking problem, or at least want to consider whether or not you do. Welcome, you're in the right place for those considerations. Almost everyone will agree that moderation has not worked well for them. Almost everyone will agree that their drinking progressed over time. And almost everyone will agree that with that progression, they had less and less control over their drinking.

You may think that every drinker is unique and we all have our own experience, but generally, the things I mentioned are pretty universal for everyone here.