ccirider

Very nice chiynita.

Pinkcuda

I sure see a lot of drunk people out there say that A.A. doesn't work for them. I'll go out on a limb here and say that their way doesn't seem to be working out too well either. At least there's support there for you. Somebody in the program has taken their machette and cleared a path for you to follow. You're more than welcome to find your own way through the jungle, but it's easier if you follow the path.
I also don't know how many meetings you tried before you formed your opinion of the program. I hope it was several since no two are alike.
For the record; I felt very uncomfortable in my home meeting for the first year. I felt out of place, I felt like I didn't fit in with them. I was a newcomer in a group that had been working together for years. I wasn't one of them.
Now I am. It just took strength and determination just as it does with all of us. Now I have to chair and make the coffee.

ccirider

Hi Need4Change:

You say that you no longer get cravings for some reason, but when you start feeling crappy, bored, anxious, stressed, etc. you head straight for the fridge. When you are heading straight for the fridge for a beer, isn't that because of a craving?

As addicts, we are an insane bunch of people, and this is what step two alludes to. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. We want to get rid of our addictions because of the misery they bring us, yet we want to hang on to our addictions because of the comfort they bring us when we feel crappy, bored, anxious, stressed, etc. It's called cognitive dissonance. How can we feel good about ourselves when we don't know what we want in life?

That is what you say you want, but do you know what you are also saying what you want? You want to head straight for the fridge for a beer when you feel crappy, bored, anxious, stressed, etc. You want both, but you can't have both my friend so you have to decide which one you want and stick to it.

GuyinIA

I see a lot of people in here telling you the steps failed because you failed. Where that maybe true, AA might not be a viable solution for you. It wasn't for me and I spent a couple of years without hope because everyone kept telling me the same thing and I knew deep down there had to be alternatives that would work for me.

If you feel AA is for you, you have to give it your all. You have to do that with any approach. I know EXACTLY how you feel and I truly feel I've found a treatment that will work for my situation after the past 2 years feeling there was no hope.

Best wishes, friend. You WILL get there someday. You need to remain determined.

Pinkcuda

Truth be told, the answer to our drinking isn't "out there" in the form of one program, facility, or therapist. The answer comes from within. We just use these as a medium to help us to achieve what we always had and couldn't find.

nogard

all addicts understand, bu that wont keep you sober, quitting is easy staying quit takes a program that works and stick at it. You say you tried the steps, did you go throw it with another member and did you live the program?

I quit many times one day I quit three times, but satying quit, thats something else.


You know if we keep doing what we used to do then we keep getting what we used to get, buggered. Today I have a good life because I put everything I can into recovery and still do every day, nio magic wadns just working at it, the magic is in the sweet sweet life I have been given.

Welcome to recovery. Stay around, all you need is the desire to quit. Stay, talk read and ask help, then accept it when its offeed freely.

You will get freedom from the bondage of addiction. I goth that and so much more.

Read the promises, they always lift me up.

Kevin

matt88

Hi need4change. I see you wrote that it seems you've exhausted all your options and tried everything. Well, if you're still drinking, then there's one option you haven't given a shot..give it a try, you have everything to gain.

I think while drinking we always think stuff like, "well, I'll quit someday, or later, or tommorrow, just not now, now isn't the right time". I was always looking for the right time to quit, or some major thing to happen in conjunction with my quitting. Maybe Id start a new job and quit right before starting, or something like that. Or I'd set a date in the future and make it a ordeal. Or I'd slow down my drinking until it just sort of fizzled out. But there really will be no better time than now. good luck