Old 12-27-2012, 03:38 AM
  # 42 (permalink)  
Threshold
Grateful to be free
 
Threshold's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Arizona
Posts: 3,680
Venting and listing all the reasons we "can't" do this or that for recovery, and having others here challenge that is often very useful for ourselves and others who lurk. It helps us get honest. So fire away if that's what you need to do.

as long as you are not encouraging anyone else to use, or shooting down what is working for them, it's fine to come here with your baggage and get some help sorting it out.

From your posts here, it sounds like NA may be a better fit for you. I had a host of substance abuse issues as well as process addictions (behavioral...sex...food...hoarding) and NA focuses on the disease of addiction irregardless of how it manifests in a person's life. I found that it was easier for me to identify with the other there than at AA, but do whatever works for you and whichever you are more able to connect to.

Money, living situation, job, etc. All real factors and of course we have to consider then, but when our life is on the line...and it really is. When our life is on the line what does losing some of those other things amount to? It's a question that each of us has to answer for themselves because for some of us losing one of those things would be enough for us to give up recovery...so it really IS a question we each have to ask ourselves. What are we willing to do to recover?

Many people object to 12 steps on the basis of now wanting to hand over anything to some amorphous "Higher Power"...it seems silly, like some strange magical thinking or whatever. YET...these are the same people who would hand over money to a stranger who we KNOW did not have our best interest in mind, to take some substance that may or may not be what we think it is, and injest that substance even though it might have killed us. YET...we balk with all manner of indignation at the idea of giving over one iota of control to something that might free us from our addiction. Just something to think about, because many of us say we are too logical, intelligent or in control of ourselves to do such a "silly" thing.

Your therapist sounds like she cares enough to be honest with you. There is nothing more therapy with her can give you if you aren't sober. She is freeing you to spend the time and money on the most critical issue.

It's a pretty recent development, as far as human history goes, that people/families are "independent", meaning that the fact that you are living with parents and getting material help from them isn't as horrible as many of us perceive it to be. It's how humanity operates on the whole. We're social animals, family units are the norm for humans.

Jobs? it's great to have one. Truth is any of us could lose ours in an instant, no matter how hard we work or how much we kiss up to some crazy boss. I don't recommend saying F you to a boss and walking out without a good reason, but a job IS intended to support our life and well being, and if we get to a point where we can't support our life or well being because of the job...then maybe the job has to be changed.

I don't know your situation but I know a lot of addicts who say "I cant quit or lose my job...it's my job.." even though they hate it, it stresses them out, they drink/use because of the stress and literally use half their income to drink/use...and are in debt up the wazoo because of it, yet they still doggedly claim they can't afford to quit.

We can quit our jobs/lose our jobs to go into treatment to save our lives, or we can keep our job today, to lose it tomorrow to addiction. Go into debt for recovery...or end up in debt from using (DUI's, accidents, using bill money to buy drugs, paying for damages)

I'm throwing these out there as food for thought. Like I said, I don't know anything really about your situation, but these are the sorts of things many of us addicts say and think.
Threshold is offline