Why AA again
 

Hi

I am on day 5 and still feel great, but I am getting a little nervous of my confidence, which I think is just the initial high of stopping drinking, and I imagine will dissolve in time. This, is when I will no doubt have to work through why I need to drink. I have tried AA 18 months ago, and I suppose I was what AA call a dry drunk for 3 months. Today I have been considering going back, based on the posts I have read here in the last 5 days where I have read that people don't have the desire to drink anymore...

Can anyone tell me how working through the 12 steps removes the desire to drink? Perhaps I just didnt get this from my meetings, I really struggled to find a higher power within me... I am trying another strategy at the moment based on addiction books I have read, along with SR... Any help would be great.. Thanks x

Hi, Iriss :)

If I think about this too long I'm never going to post, so forgive me for the questionable writing/incorrect aa "doctrine".

First off, going to meetings and sharing. Doing this regularly taught me to put my pressures outside and start dealing with them, now that I couldn't drink them down anymore. As I increased step work and 1 on 1 time with my sponsor, I found that I need to do this less, and now I share more about my gratitude and the positive changes that have happened to me since I got sober. I still go to meetings as often as I can, 2-3 times a week at the moment, and I get a lot from hearing ES&H from people at all points in recovery, from 24 hours to 40 years.

A changing point for me in my sobriety was when I stopped looking for a HP within myself and started looking outside. I am trying to think of a way to put my HP into words, just looked it up in my notebook. "The state of mindfullness, and joy of being. The knowledge that all things are one." It may not toe the party line of a HP, but it is working for me. *shrug*

The steps help me to structure my life into something that can be tolerated without alcohol. I can't just not drink and still live the way I was living- obsessing on the past, terrified of the future, trying to be numb for the present. And letting my anger at others and myself control my actions.

I feel like I'm buturing this, I'm not used to talking about the steps in the forums :) I'll end by saying I hope you give AA another try and this time hook up with a sponsor. It made a huge difference for me. And if you don't like that sponsor, it's perfectly fine to find another one.

For me it was changing from a self-reliance person to a God-reliance person.

Self-reliance got me to AA. My own power and actions.

By doing the steps in the book alcoholics anonymous, taking the actions, I found the power and became a God Reliant person. The drink obsession was removed. Gone.

So if your asking what to do different. Get a sponsor that will take you through the actions outlined in the AA big book.

Best to you,
Andy

selfseeking..........this

"The steps help me to structure my life into something that can be tolerated without alcohol. I can't just not drink and still live the way I was living- obsessing on the past, terrified of the future, trying to be numb for the present. And letting my anger at others and myself control my actions."

That my friend is fantastic............what a paragraph.

Every now and then something jumps out the page and slaps me on the face.

I totally agree and is the foundation of how i structure my life without booze.

Good on yer..................trucker

Thank you so much, maybe i need to address this whole hp.... I will give this much thought...

Welcome Iriss...I don't use aa for my recovery anymore but I do believe that as time goes by we need to remain focused on all the reasons why we quit to begin with. Congrats on 5 days...stay committed and focused! Best of luck!

I tried countless times to stop
drinking and stay stopped to
only fail many times.

My will and way to stop
drinking on my own was a
result in my powerlessness.

My family saw that i was a
danger to myself and stepped
in with an intervention. That
was back in Aug. 1990.

I spent the first night in the
crazy ward then the next
27 days in rehab for alcoholism.

Im grateful for that time spent
there because i was handed the
tools and knowledge of my disease
of alcoholism.

Im also grateful to have stayed
in a controled enviroment, away
from people, places and things
that would tempt me of alcohol.

I went thru those first 28 day
drying out. Going thru the ups
and downs of emotions u go
thru the first days of withdrawals.

If you asked me what i remembered
during those first sober days, i
honestly couldnt say. It was all
a blur. However the months and days
that followed treatment, the fog began
to clear from my mind and it was
then that i began to slowly compreh-
end the program of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Upon suggestions, i continued to attend
meetings, listening and absorbing all
that i could even if it seemed like
greek to me.

In time i began to relate and i became
teachable to learn the AA way of life
with out the use of alcohol.

With a many one days at a time
collected to get me where i am today,
I remain teachable and what all was
so freely passed on to me all those
yrs. I graciously give back or pass
on to the newcomer.

The desire to drink was emmediately
lifted from the very beginning because
i had the desire to go to any lenghts
to stay sober.

I was so tired of feeling miserable and
alcohol became my ememy that this
new way of living was the only option
i really had.

As far as faith is concerned.....I have
Something much stronger than I
guiding me all along the way......
To each person that Something is
whatever they want it to be.

All I know is I couldnt stop drinking
on my on because i was powerless
over it. I needed Something stronger
than I to help.

In time u will know what that Power
is or where that Strength is coming from
to rely on.

Till then, look to the many that have
stayed sober long lenghts of time.
Follow what they r doing by grabbing
a hold of their coat tails letting them
carry u till u r strong enough to walk
on ur own.

Remember u dont have to go thru this
program alone. There r many who will
gladly help u.

It took me to crawl before i could walk.

Then taking it one step at a time.



Thanks for letting me share.

Hi Im Sharon and Im and Alcoholic.

By the Grace of my HP and people
like you here in SR I havent found
it necessary to pick up a drink of
alcohol since 8-11-90.

For that and you I am truely grateful.

AA is not part of my recovery, but I know that a lot of people feel helped by it! Congrats on the sober time!

Can anyone tell me how working through the 12 steps removes the desire to drink?

Yes.

The 12 step process, which never really ends, removes the need for alcohol & drugs in a person's life.

There is no guarantee the 12 step process will work for you.

But if you don't try the 12 step process there is a guarantee it won't work for you. ;)

(Choices, choices, choices... that's all we seem to ever face... choices. :))

I don't know about the 12 steps, but I can say that for me, AA was a place I felt I fit in (I've only gone to one meeting). I like to listen to other people's stories, it makes me feel like I'm not alone. The only thing that bothered me was closing with holding hands in a circle and the Lord's prayer. But I went to a small town meeting and maybe they won't all be like that. I have no problem with the Lord's prayer, but we are a more diverse world and I think the universe is too big for just one religion. To each his own, I just felt like I was being preached at.

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p.../coexist-1.png

Maybe the higher power is not within you?

Hi there.....If you attended AA before i wonder did you get a bb. if you did, chapter 5..how it works... answers your question.
keep it simple,

good luck Iriss your doing great....well done on 5 days

I drank for the effect I got from alcohol.
I did not drink because of the outward conditions of my life.
I drank because of something inside of me gone wrong.
The Big Book calls the "bondage of self" as a underlying cause and condition of my drinking.What is the bondage of self?Step 4 in the Big Book describes how you can search within yourself and find it.Once I was relieved of all that garbage,I was at peace,happy and sober with new guidance guiding me every day to keep from going back like I was

We have the same higher power. :) When I first started AA I didn;t know that would be my HP, at first I added another "o" to the word god and got "good"...which to me is a mixture of love and doing the right thing, not being so selfish etc.

I am 38 days sober and have not had the obsession for 38 days but it took a long time in AA for this to happen, about 18 months of struggling with the whole HP concept, struggling with how I thought I should be doing the program.

Now I have a HP I can tune into and you can't be in that state of mindfullness etc and be a selfish, unkind person, it just isn't possible. Even when not tuned in I sometimes have to force myself to do the right thing, get off my arse and help someone etc.

God took away my drinking obcession.
I had returned to my God by using AA.

I was 3 years sober...had just finished my formal Step work.

I found myself in a situation where I could drink as much as I
wanted...for free and no one would know.

I fell on my knees and asked Him to remove the desire.
Zap! Zip! A mental shift.
when I got up...no more obcession. It's never returned..
in the past 16+ years.

You can find a psychic change described in the Doctors Opinion
in the book Alcoholics Anonymous.
You can see it in action in the rooms of AA.

For me....living the Steps are a way to be the best woman
I can be. They give me purpose and joy...:yup:

Hope you find the same Iris...thanks for asking.