AA Thing
AA Thing
Did a meeting just don't feel like my heart is there. My mind drifts. Can't explain it. I'll be listening and I care but I drift away.i think insomnia and ADD (at my age) are still a problem. I did not talk that feels almost impossible to me bot I put ten bucks in the plate. Instead of the homeless today. Can't do everything.
I still drift often ..... My insomnia and ADD seemed to get a bit better after I had been sober for a bit (I was on ADD meds that were actually working too!).
Now that I have a new baby .... drifting happens more often again. But still, I always get something out if it. Always.
Now that I have a new baby .... drifting happens more often again. But still, I always get something out if it. Always.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Between Meetings
Posts: 8,997
I don't think you need to put that much in the basket Fitz...I do think if AA is the route you want to take....You should not only study the Big Book...You should do what is in it. Find a sponsor to take you through the steps...And find out what recovery is all about. I know it turned my life around.
I have a sponor and work hard just a drifting mind since I was a baby. Looking for a new sponsor this guy is kind of a dick. I have issues with AA but trying. I need the companionship. I gave that much because when I was in treatment for a month there I had nothing to give.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Between Meetings
Posts: 8,997
A lot of people can't afford to put anything in Fitz...It ain't about the money....It's about getting better. If you don't like the sponsor you have...Find another one...It's all about moving forward.
It doesn't sound like you sleep well, so I'm not surprised you drift. But you may be hearing more than you think you are. I found that sometimes what was being said, even though I wasn't paying attention, somehow entered my head.
I hate talking at them. Any time I have, it was just because there weren't that many people there and I felt pressured to do it. Just spouted random words. Nothing meaningful or true, just what I felt I was supposed to say.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Between Meetings
Posts: 8,997
It happens...Some meetings I'm spaced too....That's life. It time you worked the steps Fitz. They read this it every meeting for a reason.
Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.
Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it-then you are ready to take certain steps.
At some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely.
Remember that we deal with alcohol-cunning, baffling, powerful! Without help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power-that One is God. May you find Him now!
Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon.
Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery:
1.We admitted we were powerless over alcohol — that our lives had become unmanageable.
2.Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3.Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4.Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5.Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6.Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7.Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8.Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9.Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10.Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11.Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Many of us exclaimed, "What an order! I can't go through with it." Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints. The point is, that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.
Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic, and our personal adventures before and after make clear three pertinent ideas:
(a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives.
(b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism.
(c) That God could and would if He were sought.
Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.
Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it-then you are ready to take certain steps.
At some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely.
Remember that we deal with alcohol-cunning, baffling, powerful! Without help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power-that One is God. May you find Him now!
Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon.
Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery:
1.We admitted we were powerless over alcohol — that our lives had become unmanageable.
2.Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3.Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4.Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5.Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6.Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7.Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8.Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9.Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10.Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11.Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Many of us exclaimed, "What an order! I can't go through with it." Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints. The point is, that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.
Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic, and our personal adventures before and after make clear three pertinent ideas:
(a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives.
(b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism.
(c) That God could and would if He were sought.
I guess if all meetings were like that AA wouldn't work would it? I'm guessing you didn't try many different meetings or attend any Big Book or step meetings....I remember you from your thread entitled "8 Months Sober. Just Me, & Jack Trimpey. . ." Let me ask you an honest question....What is the deal with working that program?...Is putting down AA part of what makes it work? I'm serious....Can you explain that to me?
It plain and simple would not still be here if it did not work. AA has taught me respentments have no place in recovery. I look for the good in people and things and embrace them. I take what I want and leave the rest. I have found a new freedom and a new happiness.
My mind still wonders... it really does depend on where I am at in my day. I can have a bad day and a meeting will be the exact thing I need to turn it around. Or I can have a perfectly good day and a meeting will be the thing that rubs me the wrong way... or I can just go in feeling flat... and come out feeling just as flat. You get what you give. And, it truly is the steps and my sponser and the hard work that I have put in to change my life that help me not go off the deep end of emotions when it comes to my recovery.
Good luck!
Good luck!
I am not figting a program those that know me know i will fight none if they work. Just did not sleep for PTSD reasons and kept like falling asleep nothing about AA or drinking just out being tired.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Between Meetings
Posts: 8,997
Powerless over Alcohol
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Trudging the Road to Happy Destiny!
Posts: 4,018
You guys are tough you make me think
I knew I smelled smoke :rotfxko
Just kidding buddy, drifting in and out so what. I do all the time. As long as my butt is in the seat I am happy to be there.
Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)