Rowan

Hi Tellus,

Just wanted to throw my hat in the ring and say welcome to you. I'm very glad that you found us and decided to post. I have suffered from major depression for years, which is more manageable today with sobriety and medication.
Stick around!

gypsytears

My IOP was similar to Anodynes except I didn't have any aftercare. My program didn't offer any but I have almost one year alcohol free now. You can do this tellus . I missed this thread when you posted the other day.Sorry.

Stick around... there's a lot of good people here.

calfritch

hey Tellus - glad you made it here. wish i would have had to forsight at 22 to get help....but 10 years later and here I am, 3 weeks sober today and it definitely gets easier. i am not a religious person either and I don't find AA to be pushy about religion, but it did make me more spiritual. each person is different though. like someone said above, you take what you want out of it and leave the rest and if that bit you take helps in your recovery then all the better keep posting and let us know how you're doing!

rloomer

See Tellus. These guys are great. Even Gypsy ( sometimes )
J/K love ya Gyps.

Pinkcuda

It might catch you by surprise that a lot of treatment centers also base their philosophy on the 12 steps. Rehab does the same thing and they suggest you follow your treatment with A.A.
If you choose not to believe in a higher power, that is your perogative. Then you're back to self reliance. Ask yourself, "When did self will and self reliance fail me" when it comes to your desire to quit drinking?
Faith is the simple act of believing in something you cannot see yet. Don't read too much into it. I have faith that the sun will come up tomorrow and I will still be around to see it. No guarantees it will actually happen, just Faith. I also have faith that you will quit drinking if your desire is strong enough. You just need to have faith that something out there has enough power that you can lean on it and it will carry you through this. It has nothing to do with Jesus being born in a manger or Noah loading a bunch of animals on an ark. That's religion and that's not what AA does. It's the higher power of your choosing, not some concept that is fed to you about God. My biggest mistake in the beginning was the inability to differentiate between God and Organized Religion.