desertsong

I am 90+ days sober, and I owe that to AA and the amazing people there who have supported me through 3 years of trying to get sober. Thank you. SR has been a huge part of that as well ... if you look at my join date, it will give you a good idea as to when I decided I wanted a better life. Took awhile, didn't it?

Viewing lots and lots of threads debating the pros/cons of different recovery programs. All of them tend to generate lots of passionate posts. Totally understandable. We are not all cut from the same cookie cutter, so we will not all get sober on the same path. I get that. It took me many, many years of trials/desperation to find my own path to sobriety and I understand the struggle of my fellows. This is a SUCKY disease we suffer from ... I make no excuses for it. If alcohol revealed itself to me in human form, I would shoot it, stab it, beat the sh*t out of it, kick it, cuss it ... oh Lord .... the emotions run deep.

But I'm not alone. You are with me, and I am with you. If you desire a better life, search for it. I love AA but it isn't for everyone. Try AA. Try AVRT. Try SMART. Do SOMETHING. Your recovery is up to you. No one else. If one thing fails, try something else. If it matters to you, you'll keep trying.

AA saved my life, so on some level, I feel I have to defend it. Don't knock it if you haven't HONESTLY tried it. But I get where some folks don't connect with it ... that's okay. But that's NOT an excuse for you to keep drinking. Find something else. Search the Web. Ask us for alternatives. Read the threads here. But DON"T drink.

Okay... lecture over. Sorry. Feeling passionate tonight.

OklaBH

AMEN! Its not just on here. Ive had people at AA talk down SR and Ive heard boat loads about addiction specialists. Its taken a combination of many things to get me sober. I thank God for each tool.

HitRockBottom70

Right on. By any means necessary! Take whatever you can from any source and use it to make your plan. This is our life. We need to look at it that way.

If you were drowning would you really not grab onto a buoy that does not hold you up 100%. Of course you would grab on for dear life and hope something else gets to you in time. Eventually, you grab enough things from enough places and you can make a life raft.

Let's throw people buoys, not throw darts to puncture them.

Lily

Thanks for your post!! I love AA, but at the same time I also use SMART when it comes to the addictive voice. I SHUT it down quickly! This also goes for any kind of negative thinking, suspicion, victimized, self pity, etc.

Blessings, Lily

IndaMiricale

Yes indeed , find away home to peace and serenity .

Tres

I agree!! I need all the help I can get! I started off here on SR for my first 6 months..to shy to go to meetings. Now I go to AA, have a sponsor and I am working the steps. I am also here every day reading and posting. Also use AVRT...You need lots of tools in your tool box to build something great and make it strong.

Thats how I look at it.

tzivia

Agree completely. I'm still new to sobriety, 16 days, but I find a lot of help from different sources. AA is one I haven't gotten into completely yet, but I will start going more, and have found a lot of what is says inspiring. It's also the largest sobriety program available, so it's accessible to those that don't have other options close by. I've read the big book and realize a lot of myself in the other alcoholics talked about. And if they can achieve sobreity, so can I. AA was the first program to really shine a spotlight about alcoholism, and make others aware that we aren't bad or evil people, we're just sick in our addiction. We can begin working for our own sobriety, and help others along the way. The group support and sharing is a huge strong point for AA.

I also have found a lot of help in AVRT and Rational Recovery. I love the idea of my addictive voice being separate from me. I can listen when it talks to me about drinking, and be aware that it's not really me that wants to drink, it's my AV, my beast. And I can tell it no because I realize it's not me. I've used this so many times when facing cravings and it's been the most helpful way of looking at my cravings so far. It's that sick voice inside of me that wants a drink, but it's not me. The real me is strong, and wants to be sober, and is perfectly capable of telling it no. I am in charge of my body after all.

We're all different and it only makes sense that we will have differences in what helps up to stay sober. There are lots of different programs out there. Research all of them and see what works for you. Don't knock other programs because they don't help you. They have meant the world to others. There is no one path.

tomsteve

Let's be open to ALL recovery programs

getting a group of ex drunks to all agree on one thing like this is quite a tall order. one thing i believe we all agree on is if we kept going like we were, alcohol and/or drugs were gonna kill us.

still workin on open mindedness here.i'm a work in progress.

jobei

Don't drink!

Zencat

So true. I had to go through a hellish trial and error process to finally find a treatment program that helps me improve my overall health. It was a process that I would not wish on my worst enemies. I survived one particular 'recovery program' by the grace of my lucky stars to find what works for me today. I had to find out the harrowing way that no one treatment/recovery program is for everyone.