A 21 year old "pretty girl"'s story
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: London, The UK
Posts: 104
A 21 year old "pretty girl"'s story
Hello, my name is irrelevant but I am a very famous alcoholic 
I have been an alcoholic since the age of 14, but entered the more serious stages of this crippling disease around the age of 19.
I have dropped out of one university because of my alcohol problem and just barely managed to not drop out of the second university I attended, again due to my raging alcoholism.
I am now in my second year of Psychology at a university I won't mention 'cause again - it's completely irrelevant.
I was lucky enough to be born...how do you people say it....pretty. Yup, often when I seek medical attention during my DTs or when I have attended therapy due to my alcoholism, people have been surprised by my appearance. Society always assumes alcoholics come in all different *ugly* shapes and sizes. They always expect a monster. Probably because there is an assumption that attractive people, especially females, especially as young as I am, do not need alcohol to make themselves feel better...to function...
I personally started drinking because I was clinically shy. I felt like I had so much to say, so much to do, but my shyness was restricting me.. Vodka in relatively small amounts before school somehow unleashed the "charming", "persuasive" me. But then the amounts increased. As did my alcohol tolerance. I was still able to function as if I was sober, even when I was highly intoxicated.
Then I turned 18 and started my addiction to "night life". Combined with my "daylight drinking", I would go out and drink even more. Sometimes I would black out, sometimes I wouldn't. It was like playing roulette, really.
Then I discovered cocaine which of course increased my alcohol tolerance whenever I took it.
This triggered the appearance of panic attack on the scene. Which made me drink even more.
This story ended bad. In July 2008, I tried committing suicide (probably due to the depression that alcohol itself triggered). As you can see, I survived.
I entered therapy immediately afterwords and managed to stay sober and clean for around 90 days. I got addicted to prescription drugs at that point but this is a different story...I even took up smoking because I thought it suppressed my desire to drink.
Then I enrolled into university. Here starts the real alcoholism... I ditched vodka for beer and in the period of 9 months I can say I had exactly 5 sober days.
Then the panic attacks became viscous but I can honestly say even at this point I did not experience physical withdrawal, just psychological.
I entered therapy again and got slightly addicted to antidepressants.
Then I enrolled into University again. I ditched the antidepressants and started drinking again. Daily. For months. In the eyes of society, from the "pretty girl" I became the "scary bitch". I was crazy and outrageous when drunk and when I would wake up sober, I would drink again in order to forget how crazy and outrageous I was the night before...
Anyway, I somehow managed to stop drinking at one point. And remained sober for a while. Enough for me to think that I was "cured". So I gave myself a chance again.
But this time, the moment I would pick up a drink would turn into 5 days of absolute madness. Just 5 days, but the worst 5 days someone could imagine. Even when I was the daily drinking "scary bitch", my experiences were not as frightening as these 5 days benders.
This is when the DTs started. Regularly. After every bender.
Then I would stop for a week.
Regain confidence.
Pick up a drink
and fall into the rabbit hole again.
I reached the point where I would not even think about food or shelter. I'd just wander around, hang out with homeless people, sleep on benches. I couldn't bear the thought of somebody I know seeing me in this disposition so that's why I'd get lost. Yet again I couldn't stop drinking.
And every DT would be worse than the one before.
Last week was my final bender of this kind. And I know that if I ever pick up a drink again, I will no longer have the strength to stop. I will inevitably die. And even if I don't, I will probably commit suicide because I have so much potential in me, so many talents and I would hate to see them dissolve in my 24 cans of beer/daily.
So please....tell me how to keep strong and never drink again. I'm not someone who would attend the AA 'cause I just want to change my habits, not my religion if you know what I mean.
My family, my boyfriend, the two friends I have left and I beg you to tell me how to stay sober. Forever.
I have been an alcoholic since the age of 14, but entered the more serious stages of this crippling disease around the age of 19.
I have dropped out of one university because of my alcohol problem and just barely managed to not drop out of the second university I attended, again due to my raging alcoholism.
I am now in my second year of Psychology at a university I won't mention 'cause again - it's completely irrelevant.
I was lucky enough to be born...how do you people say it....pretty. Yup, often when I seek medical attention during my DTs or when I have attended therapy due to my alcoholism, people have been surprised by my appearance. Society always assumes alcoholics come in all different *ugly* shapes and sizes. They always expect a monster. Probably because there is an assumption that attractive people, especially females, especially as young as I am, do not need alcohol to make themselves feel better...to function...
I personally started drinking because I was clinically shy. I felt like I had so much to say, so much to do, but my shyness was restricting me.. Vodka in relatively small amounts before school somehow unleashed the "charming", "persuasive" me. But then the amounts increased. As did my alcohol tolerance. I was still able to function as if I was sober, even when I was highly intoxicated.
Then I turned 18 and started my addiction to "night life". Combined with my "daylight drinking", I would go out and drink even more. Sometimes I would black out, sometimes I wouldn't. It was like playing roulette, really.
Then I discovered cocaine which of course increased my alcohol tolerance whenever I took it.
This triggered the appearance of panic attack on the scene. Which made me drink even more.
This story ended bad. In July 2008, I tried committing suicide (probably due to the depression that alcohol itself triggered). As you can see, I survived.
I entered therapy immediately afterwords and managed to stay sober and clean for around 90 days. I got addicted to prescription drugs at that point but this is a different story...I even took up smoking because I thought it suppressed my desire to drink.
Then I enrolled into university. Here starts the real alcoholism... I ditched vodka for beer and in the period of 9 months I can say I had exactly 5 sober days.
Then the panic attacks became viscous but I can honestly say even at this point I did not experience physical withdrawal, just psychological.
I entered therapy again and got slightly addicted to antidepressants.
Then I enrolled into University again. I ditched the antidepressants and started drinking again. Daily. For months. In the eyes of society, from the "pretty girl" I became the "scary bitch". I was crazy and outrageous when drunk and when I would wake up sober, I would drink again in order to forget how crazy and outrageous I was the night before...
Anyway, I somehow managed to stop drinking at one point. And remained sober for a while. Enough for me to think that I was "cured". So I gave myself a chance again.
But this time, the moment I would pick up a drink would turn into 5 days of absolute madness. Just 5 days, but the worst 5 days someone could imagine. Even when I was the daily drinking "scary bitch", my experiences were not as frightening as these 5 days benders.
This is when the DTs started. Regularly. After every bender.
Then I would stop for a week.
Regain confidence.
Pick up a drink
and fall into the rabbit hole again.
I reached the point where I would not even think about food or shelter. I'd just wander around, hang out with homeless people, sleep on benches. I couldn't bear the thought of somebody I know seeing me in this disposition so that's why I'd get lost. Yet again I couldn't stop drinking.
And every DT would be worse than the one before.
Last week was my final bender of this kind. And I know that if I ever pick up a drink again, I will no longer have the strength to stop. I will inevitably die. And even if I don't, I will probably commit suicide because I have so much potential in me, so many talents and I would hate to see them dissolve in my 24 cans of beer/daily.
So please....tell me how to keep strong and never drink again. I'm not someone who would attend the AA 'cause I just want to change my habits, not my religion if you know what I mean.
My family, my boyfriend, the two friends I have left and I beg you to tell me how to stay sober. Forever.
i've done my almost
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 1,934
I needed a design for living and AA provided just that. Sounds like you do too.
You see, the same me will drink again. Maybe this is true with you too?
I can't tell you how to be strong and never drink again, but see my thoughts above as to how I got and remain sober. All I can share is my experience.
PS - I consider myself a handsome man, but alcoholism just don't care what we think we look like.
You see, the same me will drink again. Maybe this is true with you too?
I can't tell you how to be strong and never drink again, but see my thoughts above as to how I got and remain sober. All I can share is my experience.
PS - I consider myself a handsome man, but alcoholism just don't care what we think we look like.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: AA Rooms
Posts: 268
Hi and welcome to SR,
You know I had a similar drinking problem when I was your age. Doesn't matter what the reason was for it at that time. I was warned to stay away from drink for a year and always watch myself with drink. I didn't and now I am an alcoholic.
The real reason I responded to you is to tell you this. When I was 23, I was in a very luxurious rehab, probably one of the best programs at the time in this country. They tried to introduce me to AA, I thought OMG, religious freaks, crazies and downright nasty people. I was young, virtually an atheist at the time (which was down to feeling hurt and lost in life, again doesn't matter what the reasons for that are). I thought I had nothing in common with these people, because of my past, what happened at 19, and again at 21.
Firstly the god thing, well you don't have to believe in god. You will hear some people in AA mention god, but as you will see from my signature, AA is not a religion. It is about filling the void in you that makes you drink the way you drink. When I was 23 I heard folk at AA talking and focused in on my thoughts about certain words they used, and I'd sit there absorbed in my own thoughts and not really listening to what was being said. Not taking from AA what I needed, which is the whole idea of meetings. Take what you need to get you out of the hell you are currently living in. You will eventually come across people who talk about what you feel, young people, some also pretty, some old and not so pretty, they will inspire you to think in healthy ways. They will give you the help you need to stop killing yourself and losing your mind.
There are fantastic people around AA, not all but I believe we all find in AA the type of people we need to meet. AA has a cross section of people from all walks of life, from all backgrounds. You will find those you click with and if you give it a chance, you may be surprised at who you do click with.
Go to meetings and you may have to try a few to get the message. You don't have to believe in God, there is mention of a higher power, and that higher power refers to a power outside of ourselves, your higher power could be the people in your meeting. It will work if you try it.
Please don't make the mistake I made at a similar age to you of writing it off and not listening.
I hope you get out of that horrible cycle you are stuck in right now.
Take it easy,
Annette
You know I had a similar drinking problem when I was your age. Doesn't matter what the reason was for it at that time. I was warned to stay away from drink for a year and always watch myself with drink. I didn't and now I am an alcoholic.
The real reason I responded to you is to tell you this. When I was 23, I was in a very luxurious rehab, probably one of the best programs at the time in this country. They tried to introduce me to AA, I thought OMG, religious freaks, crazies and downright nasty people. I was young, virtually an atheist at the time (which was down to feeling hurt and lost in life, again doesn't matter what the reasons for that are). I thought I had nothing in common with these people, because of my past, what happened at 19, and again at 21.
Firstly the god thing, well you don't have to believe in god. You will hear some people in AA mention god, but as you will see from my signature, AA is not a religion. It is about filling the void in you that makes you drink the way you drink. When I was 23 I heard folk at AA talking and focused in on my thoughts about certain words they used, and I'd sit there absorbed in my own thoughts and not really listening to what was being said. Not taking from AA what I needed, which is the whole idea of meetings. Take what you need to get you out of the hell you are currently living in. You will eventually come across people who talk about what you feel, young people, some also pretty, some old and not so pretty, they will inspire you to think in healthy ways. They will give you the help you need to stop killing yourself and losing your mind.
There are fantastic people around AA, not all but I believe we all find in AA the type of people we need to meet. AA has a cross section of people from all walks of life, from all backgrounds. You will find those you click with and if you give it a chance, you may be surprised at who you do click with.
Go to meetings and you may have to try a few to get the message. You don't have to believe in God, there is mention of a higher power, and that higher power refers to a power outside of ourselves, your higher power could be the people in your meeting. It will work if you try it.
Please don't make the mistake I made at a similar age to you of writing it off and not listening.
I hope you get out of that horrible cycle you are stuck in right now.
Take it easy,
Annette
Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Poconos PA
Posts: 1,544
In your circle it's not gonna be easy but you are doing the right thing by coming here and talking about it. For you to get a good start on staying sober you are going to need to try and stay away from all those crazy after parties at least in the beginning.
For me, staying away from temptation is key in winning over Alcohol or any drug for that matter. If you put yourself in harm's way there is a much higher probability that you will hurt yourself. You know, the peer pressure of " Oh come on just one wont hurt ya". I have been there, did it in the Music biz for awhile. Almost went out to LA to stay on a Producer's couch. They were involved in some serious partying as I could tell from the late night phone calls I would get. Here on the east coast, I was fed a steady diet of top shelf Alcohol as I attempted to climb into the Biz. The guys that identified me as talent would take me out and parade me around and dose me liberally while promoting me to the people they thought could get me a break.
Twenty years later, I am a sober Chef but it hasn't been easy breaking the chains.
The best you can do for yourself right now is to try and avoid being paraded around in all those deadly circles. See if you can manage to keep your foot in the door by daylight and do the best you can to avoid the situations that will bring you the most temptation.
Good Luck, we are hoping the best for you in your journey into sobriety.
For me, staying away from temptation is key in winning over Alcohol or any drug for that matter. If you put yourself in harm's way there is a much higher probability that you will hurt yourself. You know, the peer pressure of " Oh come on just one wont hurt ya". I have been there, did it in the Music biz for awhile. Almost went out to LA to stay on a Producer's couch. They were involved in some serious partying as I could tell from the late night phone calls I would get. Here on the east coast, I was fed a steady diet of top shelf Alcohol as I attempted to climb into the Biz. The guys that identified me as talent would take me out and parade me around and dose me liberally while promoting me to the people they thought could get me a break.
Twenty years later, I am a sober Chef but it hasn't been easy breaking the chains.
The best you can do for yourself right now is to try and avoid being paraded around in all those deadly circles. See if you can manage to keep your foot in the door by daylight and do the best you can to avoid the situations that will bring you the most temptation.
Good Luck, we are hoping the best for you in your journey into sobriety.
get it, give it, grow in it
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Calif coast
Posts: 3,167
Experience has taught you that you can't do this alone or with willpower...
pay attention to your experience.
I worked the 12 steps through my program of alanon and I am not religious...
don't make the mistake of avoiding what has worked for zillions of people because of this...don't let this be one more reason to drink.
My handsome 26 yr. old son lost his life to addiction this summer.
It is unbearably sorrowful. Like a starfish, I must endure this amputation.
There is no getting over the great loss of a child. I will grieve my son all the
days of my life. Please ask your parents for all the help you need to get the treatment you need. You have a serious illness that leads to fatality if untreated.
Consider inpatient treatment to get the professional medical attention required.
You have so much to live for and your family would never recover if you die from
the disease of addiction.
pay attention to your experience.
I worked the 12 steps through my program of alanon and I am not religious...
don't make the mistake of avoiding what has worked for zillions of people because of this...don't let this be one more reason to drink.
My handsome 26 yr. old son lost his life to addiction this summer.
It is unbearably sorrowful. Like a starfish, I must endure this amputation.
There is no getting over the great loss of a child. I will grieve my son all the
days of my life. Please ask your parents for all the help you need to get the treatment you need. You have a serious illness that leads to fatality if untreated.
Consider inpatient treatment to get the professional medical attention required.
You have so much to live for and your family would never recover if you die from
the disease of addiction.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: LA - Lower Alabama
Posts: 5,068
AA will never make you change your religion. Try a few meetings and keep an open mind.
DTs do indeed get worse everytime, and DTs are often fatal. So please stay away from that first drink. And post here if you feel the need.
DTs do indeed get worse everytime, and DTs are often fatal. So please stay away from that first drink. And post here if you feel the need.
Guest
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 2,013
There is no quick fix solution. That's the reality of it. Only you can help yourself. The help is there if you want it but you have to truly be willing to go to the lengths required in order to stay sober and remain content and grateful.
AA is free and there are meeting evrywhere, especially if you live in a city. You have to be willing to change fundamentally and if you are putting up barriers as to what you think will or will not work then you're setting yourself up for failure. Like has been said the same me will just drink again and so I had to change fundamentally and profoundly. I got this through AA, SR and much wisdom from elsewhere and a true honest desire to stay sober for me and only me.
I was willing to dedicate my life to my recovery as I realised that without it I would die anyway. I'm grateful I did as I have managed to rebuild my life back up 'one day at a time'. The only drink I ever have to stay away from is the first drink 'just for today' but it hasn;t been about drinking for a long time now.
Like has been said I needed a new design for living and I get this from my chosen recovery path.
I'm not sure I agree with your "monster" and "ugly" statement but maybe that's a cultural thing. My background has always been very down to earth and I have seen drunks of all varieties. It's easy to make assumptions about what people perceive. Also truly accepting myself as an alcoholic is what enabled me to get recovering 'one day at a time' and living a happy life worth living. There are so many alcoholics probably living in UK from the middle and upper classes whose ego and pride for some reason stop them from accepting the reality. Alcoholism is a great leveller. It doesn't matter if you're a million pound banker, you're still the same as a park bench alkie when it boils down to it, just had different life chances.
The reality is that getting sober is the easy part, it's the staying stopped which takes the real work. I couldn't do it alone and have to be in conntact with other alcoholics and addicts daily, SR is great for this. I also have to work my recovery daily too, to keep myself in check. I have experince in dropping out of University, lots of cocaine too. I'm from england so i know the score with drink and drugs and night life and all that. But for me I make no excuses and I know what I am; an alkie and a druggy who would always take it back home alone and continue into oblivion. I am so grateful for that acceptance and it has enabled me to experince a freedom and sense of purpose that I never experinced before really.
All The best
AA is free and there are meeting evrywhere, especially if you live in a city. You have to be willing to change fundamentally and if you are putting up barriers as to what you think will or will not work then you're setting yourself up for failure. Like has been said the same me will just drink again and so I had to change fundamentally and profoundly. I got this through AA, SR and much wisdom from elsewhere and a true honest desire to stay sober for me and only me.
I was willing to dedicate my life to my recovery as I realised that without it I would die anyway. I'm grateful I did as I have managed to rebuild my life back up 'one day at a time'. The only drink I ever have to stay away from is the first drink 'just for today' but it hasn;t been about drinking for a long time now.
Like has been said I needed a new design for living and I get this from my chosen recovery path.
I'm not sure I agree with your "monster" and "ugly" statement but maybe that's a cultural thing. My background has always been very down to earth and I have seen drunks of all varieties. It's easy to make assumptions about what people perceive. Also truly accepting myself as an alcoholic is what enabled me to get recovering 'one day at a time' and living a happy life worth living. There are so many alcoholics probably living in UK from the middle and upper classes whose ego and pride for some reason stop them from accepting the reality. Alcoholism is a great leveller. It doesn't matter if you're a million pound banker, you're still the same as a park bench alkie when it boils down to it, just had different life chances.
The reality is that getting sober is the easy part, it's the staying stopped which takes the real work. I couldn't do it alone and have to be in conntact with other alcoholics and addicts daily, SR is great for this. I also have to work my recovery daily too, to keep myself in check. I have experince in dropping out of University, lots of cocaine too. I'm from england so i know the score with drink and drugs and night life and all that. But for me I make no excuses and I know what I am; an alkie and a druggy who would always take it back home alone and continue into oblivion. I am so grateful for that acceptance and it has enabled me to experince a freedom and sense of purpose that I never experinced before really.
All The best
Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 27
I was a full blown alcoholic daily drinking, wrecking my car, getting locked up, losing my job, no friends left who wanted to put up with me, occasional weird drugs, etc kinda guy. I loved to play the I don't care about the consequences game when I drank and let loose the messy wrecking ball I could be drunk. Yeah it's pretty awful, but liberating isn't it? The drunk can say what we can't say and do what we can't do. Despite the gut wrenching next day guilt we're a little proud of that psycho and their suicide mission. I don't know why we never admit it to ourselves. It never gives us the chance to ask ourselves why. What is the war is about?
I didn't believe in God before I quit, I don't believe in God now. That's not what getting sober is about to me. I haven't had to let anyone or anything else take over my thinking for me to become sober. Instead I found that the further away from my addiction I got the more clarity I had about the voids I was trying to fill with it. It became clear to me I was flirting more and more with death. Yeah I tried to off myself too and ended up being sent to the mental lockup for misfits where I was told I was somehow lucky to be alive. I discovered I wasn't alone in there. That suffering was universal. The issue was allot bigger than to drink or not to drink, but whether or not I wanted to live or die. Those days started as sheer hell that turned into a new perspective.
You say want to live? Want to be sober? OK. Never pick up a drink again no matter what. Simple. Now what can you do to help yourself remember every single day, every single moment that you won't pick up a drink again? What advantages can you give yourself? Do you need people you can talk to about it in the real world? Do you need to change your environment? Your friends? Can your family help? Are you afraid? Unsure? Angry at the notion? Take the initiative. Get committed. Learn what it takes to make you sober by practicing every single day every way you can. Above all, let go of death. We're all going to die eventually. Why end your days early like this?
I didn't believe in God before I quit, I don't believe in God now. That's not what getting sober is about to me. I haven't had to let anyone or anything else take over my thinking for me to become sober. Instead I found that the further away from my addiction I got the more clarity I had about the voids I was trying to fill with it. It became clear to me I was flirting more and more with death. Yeah I tried to off myself too and ended up being sent to the mental lockup for misfits where I was told I was somehow lucky to be alive. I discovered I wasn't alone in there. That suffering was universal. The issue was allot bigger than to drink or not to drink, but whether or not I wanted to live or die. Those days started as sheer hell that turned into a new perspective.
You say want to live? Want to be sober? OK. Never pick up a drink again no matter what. Simple. Now what can you do to help yourself remember every single day, every single moment that you won't pick up a drink again? What advantages can you give yourself? Do you need people you can talk to about it in the real world? Do you need to change your environment? Your friends? Can your family help? Are you afraid? Unsure? Angry at the notion? Take the initiative. Get committed. Learn what it takes to make you sober by practicing every single day every way you can. Above all, let go of death. We're all going to die eventually. Why end your days early like this?
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: London, The UK
Posts: 104
Hey, thank you all for the posts. I already found an AA meeting that takes place tomorrow and I will give it a chance. My prejudice against the AA is purely influenced by the fact that I live in the UK and here meetings often take place in churches, and usually are attended solely by unemployed, unambitious people who rely only on prayer to recover and from what I've seen, don't recover at all. I don't mean to sound rude, but I believe recovery should involve a bit of will power and a bit of a strive to move forward, get better, be more successful than you were before in all areas of your life. I don't think people should seek recovery just for the sake of it. I think they should use it as a tool to raise themselves above circumstances and make something out of themselves. Recovery, just by itself, is not entirely worth it. Prayers, just by themselves, are not worth it at all. I believe that if you ask "God" to give you something, you should deliver "him" something in return, be it a good career, prosperous relationships,etc...you name it... And I just don't see people with such motivation coming out of these meetings. The streets are still full of broken, hopeless people.
I know that most members of this forum live in the USA where "the AA subculture" is much more developed. Unfortunately, here in the UK it is not like this.
Once again, I do not mean to offend anybody. I am just stating what I see from my own perspective.
I know that most members of this forum live in the USA where "the AA subculture" is much more developed. Unfortunately, here in the UK it is not like this.
Once again, I do not mean to offend anybody. I am just stating what I see from my own perspective.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: AA Rooms
Posts: 268
Hey again Art,
I live in Ireland, I go to "caviar" meetings and "council estate" meetings. There are the same type of people in these meetings. Some may not talk so fancy in some of the meetings. People have and some do not. People work and some do not. What I see most people in AA doing is trying to be the best person they can be in every way. Please go and LISTEN with an open mind, you will be surprised at what you find.
Annette
I live in Ireland, I go to "caviar" meetings and "council estate" meetings. There are the same type of people in these meetings. Some may not talk so fancy in some of the meetings. People have and some do not. People work and some do not. What I see most people in AA doing is trying to be the best person they can be in every way. Please go and LISTEN with an open mind, you will be surprised at what you find.
Annette
Guest
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 2,013
As a drunk then you ain't no better than any other drunk, you're still a drunk. For as long as I thought that I was better than anybody else then I would never get sober. I'm grateful that I was always down to earth so I never had to really work at that. I actively sort out the riff-raff and enjoyed their company!! ha-ha
All The best
All The best
Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: AA Rooms
Posts: 268
Laughing with you Neo. Lmao. This is not a mean kind of laughing by the way Art, go and you will end up laughing yourself after a while. Oh and Art, the broken and hopeless people have not worked the AA program.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 27
Originally Posted by whenartdeparts 
I already found an AA meeting that takes place tomorrow and I will give it a chance.
Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Oxnard (The Nard), CA, USA.
Posts: 13,935
Hi Whenartdeparts, welcome to the SoberRecovery Forums.
I utilize recovery tools like the ones at SMART Recovery (Tool Box) and being here at the SoberRecovery. Reading and posting here has become a good addition to my addiction treatment plan. I personally prefer to keep my spiritual views or lack there of separate from my alcohol addiction recovery program. Its simpler for me that way. And I have found that its more effective for me to just concentrate on recovery progress for the most part anyway. As long as I stay sober I can develop my secular spiritual side as I go along the way.
I utilize recovery tools like the ones at SMART Recovery (Tool Box) and being here at the SoberRecovery. Reading and posting here has become a good addition to my addiction treatment plan. I personally prefer to keep my spiritual views or lack there of separate from my alcohol addiction recovery program. Its simpler for me that way. And I have found that its more effective for me to just concentrate on recovery progress for the most part anyway. As long as I stay sober I can develop my secular spiritual side as I go along the way.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: AA Rooms
Posts: 268
Art, just wanted to let you know, I have been losing the battle with drink too recently, just I know from folk here, using various ways, and from going to meetings, that a program is usually the best way to go. I'm giving AA a chance this time. I was trying to sell it to you. For free!!!
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,416
Welcome to SR whenartdeparts
As you've already seen you find lots of good advice and support here.
I hope you do go to the meeting - I'm not in AA myself but I always encourage people to canvass all their options - this is a big fight...it's best to get all the reinforcements we can
D
As you've already seen you find lots of good advice and support here.
I hope you do go to the meeting - I'm not in AA myself but I always encourage people to canvass all their options - this is a big fight...it's best to get all the reinforcements we can
D
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: London, The UK
Posts: 104
Well...anyway. I will try to attend a meeting tomorrow, I hope my skepticism doesn't influence my first impressions too much. As you might have noticed, I am not the most open minded creature to ever walk the face of earth... But I am good at giving things a *single* chance so let's hope it all goes well. If it doesn't, I'll find other ways to remain sober. I'll invent my own way if I have to.
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