mike_mass

I attend AA

Tazman53

AA is not for every one, I know it was the only thing that has worked for me, but I also know others like my father & brother who have stayed happily sober, my father for 19 years until his sober death and my brother for well over 20 years now.

As I have said before, if some one comes here and says I have not had a drink for 3 years and the way I did it was by kissing a billy goat every morning the last thing I would do is knock that, hey if it works for them, it may work for some one else.

I can only share what worked for me and a whole lot of things that did not work for me like moderating my drinking and "Doing it with sheer will power, my way!"

I did stay sober for a little over a year in my early 20's due to joining a church, but I did not join the church to quit drinking, I joined it because at the time I beleived in what they taught and part of their teachings were not to drink.

barb dwyer

f911 - too bad there's no alternative face to face meeting for you to try. Even if just on the weekends. I had the exact problem when I first tried AA back ... six? five? years ago. I drove 30 miles oe way per night when i got time off to get to meetings in a larger town.

just to get out of the small town 'sit around and stare at each other meetings.'

thats not how they ALL are - but that's how this ONE was.

and it was my only option within 30 miles. over the continental divide.
and I drove it.

now I live IN that town.
and am grateful to still be alive, and that it is my home group.

Just wanted you to know you're not alone - and if you want it ... and are willing to do anything to get it - Something Greater than ourselves ... makes it happen.

nan07

I'm not in AA. I have cobbled together a personalized program of sorts that includes bits and pieces from lots of different programs. I am spending most of my time doing Women For Sobriety stuff. Oh yes...and it's working very well!

citychick

I'm another grateful member of AA.

snowgoose

I tried various ways of stopping drinking. None of them worked. Finally in desparation, I went to AA, which does work for me. I consider AA a beautiful, incredibly wise program. But AA is filled with us - alcoholics - and "some of us are sicker than others". They also say "identify, don't compare" and my first quote is a comparison. However, it is clear to me that I will find people both in and out of the rooms whose behavior is not what I want to be around. Some in AA will have a need to control others even as they are gradually - we hope - learning the fallacy of that behavior. It may be what f911 ran into. At any rate, I do run into sick behavior in the rooms and that results in my occasionally taking a vacation from AA even though I know that is dangerous. But I have AA principles firmly ingrained, enough that so far I've stayed sober even during periods of non-attendance. Participation here on SR is one of the additional helpful tools. Thanks, all.

gypsytears

I don't go to AA but have maintained my present alcohol free state for almost one year now. Something is working for me. I loved all the responses here... I think it worked better than a poll !

Tazman53

Everyone is different in thier own way yet we all share a common problem, the solution for one does not have to be the solution for another.

Alcoholism is a baffling disease, for some like my dad & brother all it takes is a big slap of reality and they can overcome it, for others it may be religion or therapist, others it is a support group, secular or non-secular, but no matter how one recovers there are some common factors in all recovery that I have seen & that is change.

"Change I must...... or die I will."

Every one I have ever seen recover from alcohlism it has been due to them changing, because if we change nothing about our selfs, then we still remain an active alcoholic who if not still drinking will wind up drinking again.

A lot of folks have found their own ways of quitting and changing as I have said, one thing I have also found to be true is that the majority of alcoholics who have found recovery in AA were unable to find it in any other place. Does that mean that AA is better then other ways? Nope, it just means that some of us were in a deeper more lost state then others and the last house on the block was our salvation, it was either AA or die.

scorpy

I don't attend and so far going nine months strong, almost ten. Sober since 1-18-07.

dave47

I don't go to AA,but i've taken on board the messages of many that do and would have no fears if that is what lies ahead.

GrouchoTheCat

AA is the only thing that has worked for me.

collinsmi

me too

Debaucher

I leaned upon AA heavily the first couple months of not drinking. Being around people who "got it" was enough to keep me from going out of my mind. I did roughly 90 meetings in my first 90 days... and then tapered.

I learned a new way of thinking through the process of working the steps. Actually it was more than just learning to think in a new way... I still think the same the difference is more along the lines of a paradigm change... like when people stopped thinking the universe revolved around the earth... or that the earth wasn't flat... my thinking has changed because the whole framework on which my thoughts are processed has changed.

I haven't attended an AA meeting in a couple months now. excuses excuses whatever... but the thing I live every day is that my reprieve is contingent upon my spiritual maintenance... if I am not working on improving myself spiritualy then I might or will deteriourate back into my drunk stupid ways of thinking...

AA helped me imensely.... this forum helped me!

Lilyflower

Tazman,

Its great you stopped drinking for a year! I think it shows great determination. If you would, please share with me why you then went back to drinking? I'm trying to understand why my partner keeps on the yo-yo of stopping and starting.

Thanks!!!

Cathy31

????

GlassPrisoner

Yeah, Taz was still sober last I knew of....

Tazman53

Lily when I stopped for that year I had not crossed that invisible line alcoholics speak of, the other side of that line is full blown alcoholism, it is the point where there is no longer physically or mentally an ability to stop drinking.

When I stopped drinking that time I was still an alcoholic, but the line of mental obsession and physical addiction had not been crossed.

What happens to an alcoholic before they cross that line is they can stop drinking, many for long periods of time, the whole time we are not drinking during that period, we do think about it, but do not obsess about it. We suddenly forget the problems it caused us and decide "Hey I have not had a drink for (Name the period of time), obviously I am not an alcoholic so we have a drink!!!!

When we have that one drink is when it all kicks right back in where it left off when we quit. One is never enough for us, even though we may be able to force our self at this point in time to only have one our mind and even our body is SCREAMING for one more, which simply leads to another SCREAM for one more.

Lily the worst part of this disease is when it is the easiest for an alcoholic to quit physically is the time when the disease is telling us that we do not have the disease.

Alcoholism is the only disease that one of the symptoms of it is the denial that we have it!

People with cancer or diabetes do not feel that they do not have thier disease, they easily acknowledge they have their disease and seek medical help immediately.

bugsworth

Tazman, With all do respect, you can not be comparing alcoholism with cancer or diabetes.

These diseases can not be arrested or halted by a choice. We choose to feed our diease.

paulmh

Bugsworth, with all due respect, yes, alcoholism is a medical condition like cancer or diabetes.

GlassPrisoner

Here we go.....