wpainterw

My wife just asked me whether it would have made any difference if the SR website had been available back in the early 1960's when I first started having so much trouble. My answer was a resounding yes. If that had been so and unless I had been an even bigger fool than I think I was, SR might have changed my whole life. It would have put me in touch with people all over the world who were having problems similar to mine and it would have encouraged me to try AA and might have helped me resolve some AA questions which came up from time to time. It could well have made all the difference- unless, that is, I had been an even bigger fool than I think I was.
But those were the days before personal computers; they were days of carbon paper, typewriters, thermofax copy machines. I recall that men sometimes wore hats and they weren't baseball caps, worn backwards or forwards. Folks used maps (free at a gas station), not a GPS, to guide their travels. If you wanted an AA meeting you'd call the central office, but not on a cellphone. People actually used their house phones! The dogs were pretty much the same however. That's all.

W.

Xune

My feeling;

SR is a tool I use in my recovery. It is the only place where I choose to connect with other addicts and it is the only place where I can, on a daily basis, speak openly about my addiction to alcohol.

SR is of benefit to my sobriety, but it is far from essential.

hypochondriac

I'd imagine SR saves many lives and helps many people get sober who would have been lost otherwise.

I love it when you see people come here in their early 20's and I can only hope they decide to quit. That was the age when I first seriously thought about my drinking. When I was 19/20 I went to a book shop and bought a book about addiction. Knowing me it must have taken me a lot of guts to go up to the counter and buy it. Turns out it was rubbish, or I didn't get it or something. The only thing I remember was the guy talking about a friend of his who wouldn't eat in a restaurant which didn't serve wine and that being addiction on some level... It didn't help me anyway. Then when I was about 23 I read Allen Carr's book Easyway to control your drinking and I think I was a bit narked when I got to the end because it doesn't actually tell you how. Haha, I think I missed the point. This was all pre accessible internet days... I wouldn't have been looking up alcoholism on the school computer anyway. There is no way I would have gone to an AA meeting, but maybe if I had come across a big book in a bookshop that might have encouraged me (never see them in bookshops... they come through the post in a plain cover, I'd love to see decent books on alcoholism in shops!).

So yeah SR helps. I seriously thought I was going nuts about my drinking and that I should be able to control it and just drink less like everyone else and this is the first place I came to which presented not drinking as a viable option. Love it here x

wpainterw

Xune wrote:
"SR is of benefit to my sobriety, but it is far from essential."

I certainly cannot say that SR, had it been available, would have been "essential". All I can say is that it was not available and that, had it been, I think my chances of a more early recovery would have been better. I was foolish in those days. Perhaps you were not.

W.

Dee74

well SR has been essential for me....I honestly doubt I'd be here alive otherwise.

But I also doubt SR would have been much good to me before I got here on 07...it was just a wonderful confluence of wanting to quit, needing to quit...and finding SR

I suspect any earlier and I would have been unready, unwilling and unable - I rather fear I would have not used this site to it's full potential?

D

Pondlady

I found this site because I was looking for information to help me quit. I was ready, but man oh man, has it been helpful! I think if it had been around earlier it would have helped those people seeking support.

Hevyn

wpainterw - I have many of the same memories you do - the first computer I used was the size of a refrigerator. (Keypunch cards?) I remember fighting to keep my IBM Selectric - with correction tape. How could I type a letter when there was no place to put the paper?

I knew decades ago that I had a problem, but refused to take action. I insisted I could use willpower and things would be fine. Certainly no one ever suggested I had a drinking problem, or recommended AA. If I'd had SR to turn to, I would have recognized I had a disease that was going to eventually take control of my life. I would have felt encouraged by the stories and solutions found here - I wouldn't have felt so alone.

I like your thread - I've often wondered how different my life would've been if I'd had this community to turn to. Thanks, W.

bloss

SR has certainly helped me. Funny thing is I had been looking around online many times over the last few years drinking and found many websites, I don't think I saw this one. On that day in April I put in some random question about alcohlism and this came up. I think it was the right time to actually "see" it and use it. Whatever the case, it has definitely helped me.

Xune

H I'd resolved to never drink again before finding SR. I'm glad to be here and to have found it.

Everyone's story is different how they finally stayed stopped. We were all foolish when using, all of us.

wpainterw

Hevyn wrote:

"the first computer I used was the size of a refrigerator. (Keypunch cards?) I remember fighting to keep my IBM Selectric - with correction tape. How could I type a letter when there was no place to put the paper?"

Well, Hevyn, even though this is not a nostalgia website we can still remember those old days. I too had an IBM electric (pre "Selectric"). Very big, very heavy. What a chore using all that white-out and "correctotape". At work,whole pages had to be retyped and when that was done, there were always two or three more errors. And the pre-Xerox copy machines that used fluid, like developing a negative from a camera. And all those soaking sheets hung up on wires to dry in the copy room. And stuff sent off to the printer, with "riders" stapled on and "riders" to the "riders" etc. etc. And, punch card IBM sorting machines. The good old days. No cellphones, no computers, no web, no facebook, no wikipedia, no SR! (Men wore hats and ties. They also shaved! Before the Sixties no one had invented "Cool"- well maybe no one.)

W.

Dee74

not to drag the thread too awry... but SR would have been hella difficult on this beast...this is the first computer I used...the TRS-80



D

Impurrfect

I actually found SR when I was still using....then quitting...then using, etc. What I read here, in the two years I lurked, however, stuck with me and when I was ready for recovery, I knew just where to come.

It's been a vital part of my recovery and I'm grateful for the "tools" I've learned here to add to my tool belt

Hugs and prayers,

Amy

Delilah1

You are finding all sorts of pictures this week Dee!!!

Delilah1

I found SR when I thought about quitting a few times, but it has been an essential tool since I was ready to quit.

Zebra1275

Interesting question about SR.

I first noticed a problem in the 1980's as a young man but never thought about AA. I was online with my Commodore 64 back then, so if I had found a bulletin board (pre world wide web era) about sober recovery and taken the time to read it, I think it would have helped me. Back then I was trying to control things all by myself with limited success.

wpainterw

Xune wrote:

" We were all foolish when using, all of us."

Reminds me of a quote ascribed to Dr.Johnson, referring to his early days,impoverished, literally a street person,roaming the London streets at night with his doomed friend, Richard Savage. Something like "Oh I was [we were?] all fools in those days!" I am uncertain as to whether Dr. Johnson became an alcoholic but I do know that in later life he began to abstain from strong spirits because he found they exacerbated his episodes of nearly clinical depression.

W.

Lizard99

I am so thankful for this site, I have gained so much strength from everyone on here. I honestly consider you all friends.

Fernaceman

Lol, nice post. Yes, we are given and have access to many gifts these days that are taken for granted all too often. I need to consciously be more grateful that AA and recovery in general is infinitely more accessible than it was to countless others before me. They were successful WITHOUT all these tools, having access to them now can only aid me on my journey, if I let them.

debsam

SR has been an integral part of my sobriety. The education alone has been invaluable to me...something as simple as book recommendations from Anna and others.

I credit SR, and everyone on here, with inspiring me to keep digging for answers so that I may truly understand alcohol and the effect it's had on my life.

I really don't know if I would understand/know as much as I do if it wasn't for SR...my soft place to land

Great thread wpainterw!!

shockozulu

PET Computer here. Then the TSR-80, SuperPET and Osborne. My first networked device was my mother's COMPAQ that could dial into to local radio station's BBS.

How times have changed as I wrote this on my phone lol.