4theboyz

I finally made my way here after 12 years of grinding away at my alcohol addiction. I hit my bottom where I could no longer do what I was doing and needed help. I have 14 failed Day 1's that I have record of and am on my 15th and last Day 1 as if I don't stop I will die for sure. Anyway I threw myself at the mercy of an outpatient program and really took to the program and graduated after 6 months and have been drifting around since. I saw there was a Sober Recovery meeting in my area but never able to make the time work. FINALLY made a meeting 2 weeks ago and was very pleased to see it's format was not anything like AA and very similar to my outpatient program that focused on CBT therapies. So I wanted to extend my participation in this program to the website forum and here I am! Really looking forward to learning more and more about this insane addiction process I have had to navigate the hard way.

brighterday1234

Hevyn

Welcome, 4theboyz - we're so glad you found us & posted.

When I came here I'd been drinking 30 yrs. I drank every day & couldn't imagine getting by without it. When I began sharing here at SR I felt my fear & doubt begin to lessen. Everyone understood how I was feeling, the way others in my life could not. The encouragement & support has meant the world.

You can do this!

4theboyz

I should give a status report. I am sober now 432 days and feeling very secure in my sobriety. Just wanting to see how other are doing in their long term sobriety and what obstacles sober people still have to navigate.

least

Welcome to the family. You'll find lots of support and good ideas here.

SoberCAH

Congrats on your 432 days sober.

That is quite an achievement.

As we say in AA, recovery is about separation from alcohol and learning to live life on life's terms on a daily basis.

For me, the answer to getting and staying sober and living my life to good purpose, instead of the self-indulgent decadence to which I had grown accustomed in my drinking days, has been developing and maintaining a daily relationship with God and working the AA program.

I walked into the treatment center to try to learn to not drink - nothing more.

But the treatment center helped get me matriculated into AA and my sobriety has evolved from that beginning.

To be sure, I certainly didn't like AA at the start, but I was definitely light on options at the time.

Then, amazingly, it kind of grew on my to the point that I liked it and met a lot of similarly situated friends (other drunks like myself who had to get sober or die).

I have clung to AA for quite a while now and haven't had a drink since the day I walked into the treatment center.

I'm not denigrating any other program, plan or pursuit of recovery anyone else has successfully worked to get sober, but this is how I have done it.

I have been sober half my life now and, like you, I wasn't too terribly far from drinking myself to death at a reasonably young age.

For someone who was out of his mind drunk every night for years (13 years in my case), that's a good result by anyone's standards, I think.

And I credit God and AA for my sobriety.

We hope you stick around here and contribute to our community;.

We need you.

Anna

Welcome, I'm glad you found us and decided to join SR and post.

Hevyn

432 days - that's fabulous 4theboyz. I've been sober over 11 yrs. but still sign on here every day for encouragement & strength.

4theboyz

11 years is enviable as I should have that as well. I always put forth effort to learn about my drinking while I was drinking and plan to keep on learning about my sobriety. I thought I knew most of what I needed at 6 months and here at 14 months I realize I am barely a novice. It looks like Smart Recovery will serve me well. It is very familiar as my home away from home has been My Way Out since 2008. Even see a couple familiar faces here. Thanks for taking the time to say hi!

Dee74

Hi 4fortheboyz

just to clarify - we're a peer support website not a recovery method.

There may be meetings or even groups named SoberRecovery out there but they're not affiliated with us in any way

Nonetheless, this is a great placeof support understanding and encouragement

welcome

D

PhoenixJ

Welcome 4tbz. SR is a great place to engage, learn, support and get support. Perhaps join the Class of October '19 group? I am in the C/O March '16, post there nearly every day after 3y and count the people there my friends 9as well as from other threads).

DriGuy

That surprised me to hear that there were SR meetings. I thought I had missed something. Maybe there should be, however. You need more to do, right?

Dee74

It wouldn't be me DriGuy - real time chat is not my metier

D

AAPJ

I too thought:

SR has meetings? I did not know that. Great - I want to go to one.

Oh well.

SnoozyQ

Hiya 4theboy,

Welcome , you certainly picked the right place .

You will get great advice , help to stay on track and so much support here .

You are amongst likeminded friends

Xx