I don't think I can get on the AA bus

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10-02-2017, 06:20 PM

# 101 (permalink)

dwtbd

quat

Join Date: Jul 2013

Location: terra (mostly)firma

Posts: 4,823

Quote:

Originally Posted by leanabeana

I'm extremely lucky to have so many options at my fingertips. I have different AA, LifeRing and Refuge Recovery meetings walking distance from where I work and live. I think that's why I'm having such a hard time committing to anything so it's a blessing and a curse I suppose. The lack of commitment and absence of sponsors/mentors in LifeRing appeals to me but I don't know if that's just my addict brain not wanting to commit to this long-term and be accountable.

If you think you have an 'addict brain' finding a methodology that focuses on learning how to live with that affliction and how it affects your thinking seems like the best fit.

If you think you have a brain with an addiction, making a commitment to yourself to never again ingest that substance would free yourself from the affliction.

Looking for support for such a decision can add comfort and bolster your resolve, but I doubt support can give you the resolve or provide the answer.

You seem to be looking for the latter, the former has to come first and from within. You can do it, Rootin for ya

10-02-2017, 09:49 PM

# 102 (permalink)

JT79

Member

Join Date: Sep 2017

Posts: 23

Quote:

Originally Posted by leanabeana

I have different AA, LifeRing and Refuge Recovery meetings walking distance from where I work and live.

Don't forget about SMART Recovery. They have a search function to find meetings near you.

10-03-2017, 09:11 AM

# 103 (permalink)

leanabeana

Member

Thread Starter

Join Date: Aug 2017

Location: California

Posts: 534

Thanks JT. I will check out the Thursday SMART Recovery meeting at lunch by work.

10-03-2017, 09:51 AM

# 104 (permalink)

Darth Paul

Member

Join Date: Feb 2008

Location: Bridgeport,AL

Posts: 32

I sometimes feel like I am in the wrong place in an AA meeting.I also find that it helps me break up that time of the evening when I want a drink.I also take comfort in the fact that it is a place to vent sometimes.

10-03-2017, 12:36 PM

# 105 (permalink)

Algorithm

Join Date: Sep 2016

Posts: 847

Quote:

Originally Posted by leanabeana

I know that I still have free will no matter what path I take. If anyone tells me I don't, I will run for the hills. Before I run for the hills, however, I might get a second opinion.

Powerless over alcohol, as in the first step, generally means powerless over the desire to consume alcohol. I believe that NA got it right in their first step, which doesn't indicate a substance, but the Big Book of AA explains this as well, in Chapter 3 -- More About Alcoholism.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alcoholics Anonymous, First Edition, Pages 42-43

.... They had said that though I did raise a defense, it would one day give way before some trivial reason for having a drink. Well, just that did happen and more, for what I had learned of alcoholism did not occur to me at all. I knew from that moment that I had an alcoholic mind. I saw that will power and self-knowledge would not help in those strange mental blank spots...

Once more: The alcoholic at certain times has no effective mental defense against the first drink. Except in a few rare cases, neither he nor any other human being can provide such a defense. His defense must come from a Higher Power.

Regarding your remarks about the constitutionally incapables, there are others who have synthesized a solution for them. In fact, I think I will make that my user description, to see how it fits. It might even make for a good screen name.

10-03-2017, 12:40 PM

# 106 (permalink)

ScottFromWI

Forum Leader

Join Date: May 2012

Location: Wisconsin, USA

Posts: 16,945

After repeated reminders, this thread has been closed and more posts have been removed. Please remember that SR is supposed to be a forum of support, not a forum to argue/pick apart other recovery methods.