Rob B

As today marks Dr. Bob's permanent sobriety date and the birthdate of AA, I wonder what they might think of the "Message" today. Would they tell the newcomer:
1.Just don't drink?
2. GO to 90 in 90?
3.Fake it till you make it?
4. Sobriety is in the coffee Pot?
5. You have to wait a year to sponsor someone?
6. This is a selfish program?

I suspect they would relate their experience with drinking and then say, you have a malady of the body, mind, and soul that only a spiritual experience can conquer. Here are the steps we took as a program of recovery, are you willing to go to any length to recover from this seemingly hopeless state of mind and body?

How does one have a spiritual experience sufficient enough to recover from alcoholism? I'm sure there are many, Alcoholics Anonomous offers 1. The program of recovery as outlined in our basic text, The Big Book.

Sunlight81

Read the Big Book? What a concept. What's my message? That my obsession to drink has been removed as the result of working the 12 steps. Happy Birthday to us all! Thank you, Rob. Eveybody else: What's your message?

CarolD

I think we offer hope to the hopeless.

GlassPrisoner

There is a solution.

GrouchoTheCat

Come with us,
Join us,
Become one with us.

You need never be alone again.

miss communicat

you never have to drink again.

There IS a solution....(ditto GP)

Peter

I take most of my recovery straight from the pages of the Big Book.

"Fellowship" provides me with the physical proof I need that recovery is possible and allows me a chance to give back some of what has been given me.

Many of the slogans I hear in AA never came out of the Big Book and though many of them contain pearls of wisdom there are some that I will question.

"Dry drunk"
"Relapse is a part of recovery" &
"This is a selfish programme" .......are some of them.

CarolD

These are things you will never hear from me.... ...

Dry Drunk
Our drinking was but a symptom
90 and 90
Pity Pot

Tazman53

There is a solution.

GP nailed it!!

There is a solution! If you want what we have there is a solution!

tiburon88

I don't think Bill & Bob would be saying the famous, "no relationships the first year in sobriety." Come on now, that's like telling high school kids not to date. If their is an attraction, it will happen. I believe this saying was made up by old AA men who could no longer get females. lol

Emimily

i don't have to live that way today, and neither do you.

parentrecovers

i have always liked the saying "a simple program for complicated people". don't know where/when that originated, but it pretty much sums it up in my experience.

thank god for aa. k

McGowdog

What's my message today? Get a 1st Step. Really really sit down with a couple of recovered alcoholics and talk for a few hours about how you drank. Identify with their stories if you can and tell your truth. As you hear yourself speak, you will see. If you find that you are an alcoholic, choose into the A.A. program or choose out. If you choose in, do this stuff and get recovered and pass it on. It's a kick!

sfields141

It seems to me that we are all just one drink away from our disease, alcoholism and if I am only one drink away how can I be recovered? My disease maybe in remisssion but it waits on me to slip or fall. I work the steps to keep it in remission. I know alot of of people like to say they have recovered,but if that were true,would we need to work the steps and go to meeting? This brothers me alot because even though I have alot of one day ata times.I know I havent recovered from my disease of alcoholism. how can we as alcolics be sure we are recovered an not just one drink away from our disease?

keithj

sfields,

You sure you want to go there? It will be pointed out that how it seems to you is of little relevance. Recovered is a term that the Big Book uses repeatedly. We are more than one hundred men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body, or something like that.

What the word recovered means is contained in that book. For me, I know what recovered means. I live it every day.

McGowdog

I don't believe that alcoholism is a disease. Disease is a doctor's term, not Dr Bob's nor Bill W's.

I think it's a political act put into place by the industry that is "Alcoholism".

You want to get recovered? Simple. Become an alcoholic, do the steps, get a spiritual experience/psychic change, and you'll be recovered. A.A. has a solution. Take the treatment and you'll be recovered. Then you can mull over that "daily reprieve" contingency.

smacked

ok.. why are all these old AA posts being dug up.

McGowdog

Because they are good A.A. topics and I wanted to respond to them.

tommyk

It can be done.

bugsworth

sfields...I find it sorta sad that you feel that you are so walking the edge in regards to your addiction. I always despised that "one drink away" kinda talk. For me, my journey has brought me miles away from where I was...I no longer feel like I am in recovery, rather I am recovered. That is not to say I don't remain vigilant in regards to my prior addiction but I am no longer the same person...alcohol no longer holds any power over me.