Thread: Urges
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Old 08-01-2020, 11:32 AM
  # 15 (permalink)  
Aellyce
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 10,912
There is also Refuge Recovery, Lifering, Women for Sobriety and a few other programs that have meetings. I think SR has a list somewhere, if you don't find it, can ask one of the mods or admins. I bet you could also find recovery-related groups on meetup.com that get together virtually now and are not AA-based.

I agree that reducing the amount/frequency of drinking does not make much difference mentally, as long as there is still any relapse. I was sober first for 2 years and virtually craving-free during the second year, but then stupid enough to give in to mindset that wasn't even anything like the early urges. Drank on/off for ~2 months, and the original urges came back full-force, very quickly. Had to start all over beating them from scratch. This addiction really changes our brain for the long haul and even a minor "slip" blows it up again - why moderation, harm reduction etc don't work for alcohol and (IMO) can make people's lives even more miserable - one might just avoid death for a long time, but not at all the mental consequences. I'm not writing this to pull some dark blanket, just sharing what I experienced even after a couple years of good sobriety and brief relapse with those urges, and it's far from a unique story.
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