MIRecovery

I wrote this to a fellow SR member but thought some fellow SR member could relate.

What I have found is drinking is just a symptom of underlying problems. You take away the alcohol and all of the problems come flooding back. Alchohol causes a whole set of other problems that are even worse so that is not a fix either.

I'm sure you know I am an AA fan. The reason is that I tried a lot of things and none of them worked. AA taught me how to deal with the underlying problems. To live a different life. A life built on helping others and a power greater than myself. The amazing thing is that it worked! Sometimes I do not believe it myself but here I am sober 3.5 years in. I drank and drugged for almost 40 years so I am an absolute expert on being a drunk. This is the only thing I was extremely good at.

The sequence of events that lead me to sobriety are things had gotten really really bad. I tried AA, I tried rehabs, I tried pscychologists, I tried AVRT and nothing worked over 20 years of trying. As I look back on things the thing I was missing was I always had in the back of my mind I would someday be able to drink like normal people.

I was more or less forced into AA by the rehab and my wife. I had been to a lot of meetings over 20 years but I was a special alcoholic. I was not like those people. So I went not expecting much.

All I can say is something happened. For the first time I met a bunch of people who were happy, healthy and sober. I could tell they knew what it was like to be me. I saw somehow they had been successful where I had not. After the meeting I felt better. Not a lot but some.

This was the beginning. I went to another meeting and I had the same feeling of peace which today I attribute to my higher power. I got a sponsor, went to a ton of meetings and started to work the steps.

AA is not about not drinking. It is about how to live life without alchohol. How to get rid of the garbage from the past, how to deal with the crap life throws at us, how to lead a good life.

When you learn these things all of a sudden the desire to drink goes way down. It is always there for me but as quick as a thought comes it goes.

For me AA worked because 1. I became convinced that I could not be a successfull drinker. 2. It taught me to live a different life. 3. That I surrounded myself with happy people that did not drink and understood what being an alcoholic is like.

Your past is no different than mind. We all did $hitty things that fill us with shame and guilt. AA has a method for getting rid of this stuff and the good news is that it works.

My tag line is from a Rascal Flatts song but it perfectly summarizes where I am today.

bbthumper

Amen. I have alcoholism. Alcohol was the only effective treatment I knew for my internal condition. Take away alcohol and I was still left with all of my problems and no way to treat them. AA gave me a new way. Now I am living a happy and useful life. Good stuff MIRecovery!

andisa

What you write is true.For 20 years I used daily, now 6 years not using much but still not in recovery. It's not about the drinking/ drugs, it's about figuring out WHY we use, or are compelled to use, and set about changing that. Learning a new way. That's tough to do inside one's own head. Others do help, if you let them in.

hypochondriac

Thanks for sharing that x

Dee74

Thanks for sharing your story and your recovery experience MIR

D

Kevah

I always appreciate your posts. Thank you for sharing your story.

stairs

Thank you MIR!

iloveme

I needed this today!

lilgolden73

Thanks MIR!! Great post!!!

IndaMiricale

Right on my friend. Great post.

I relate to all of it . Your a great asset to AA and SR...

Keep living the dream and stay on the Beam..

wpainterw

Thanks MIR: And congratulations on an impressive period of recovery! What strikes me as significant about AA is that, despite the reservations which some folks may have about some of the original teachings and writings, there has built up over the years an enormous body of experience from thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of persons in the program, experience that indeed "works if you work it". This is often expressed by sayings which are at times put down as cliches: "easy does it", "one day at a time", "turn it over", etc. etc. But behind this appearance of simplicity, truism, lie some very significant insights. "easy does it" for example, signifying a way to escape from compulsive, obsessive perfectionist behavior, the importance of knowing what can be changed and what cannot, taking each day as it comes and not getting panicked by thoughts of the future, attaining some humility and awareness of one's limitations. All these things, collectively described as "wisdom", as opposed to "intelligence", have been known for centuries but have often been ignored. Wlliam Blake, the poet and artist, once said, "Wisdom is sold in the desolate marketplace where none come to buy." AA, because of the experience of all those who have benefitted by it, has become a repository of wisdom. It is not the only path up the mountain of recovery but, for many, it has been a path which has worked for them.

W.