To reply to Sapling's inquiry: I did steps 1-5. twice.

As to the second question, I will not answer that here lest this thread is turned into another AA vs. other programs debate. Those tend to be very contentious.

Yeah...I don't want to get into one of those debates either....I did look for something wrong with AA...Maybe because I had very little faith in myself that it would work...I couldn't find anything. Not sure why you didn't continue with six and seven when you got done with five the first time...I guess you know that. I do want to wish you the best with whatever you end up doing....People like us can't drink....For me there is no other way to look at it.

Felt great, life's better, everything's improving.......BAM, drunk. Been there done that. There were these odd, occasional, imperceptible times where.....for no reason at all.......I'd just start drinking. All my bad experiences never even hit my head......just "drink"........followed by drinking. Being honest, a lot of those times I didn't even try to nor consider for a second stopping myself. I just went and did it! (thanks Nike......lol)

You may be one of those lucky losers like me for whom "not drinking" isn't the solution. Sure, it's part of it, but "not drinking" may for you, like it is for me, NOT be something you can pull off long-term. Not on your own willpower anyway.

And you know what, you DO deserve to be happy - but you DON'T deserve to be happy while you're in the process of potentially killing yourself. "I want to have fun, fun comes from partying, partying involved drinking and drugs" was an absolute CONVICTION of mine. It was, in my mind anyway, some sort of cosmic law.

Thankfully I found to be true what a TON of ppl in recovery had been telling me: If you're an alcoholic like us, not drinking is well and good but it's no way to live. On the other hand, if you get neck-deep into RECOVERY - everything in your life will change.

Thanks, Sapling. One time I did steps 1-5 I was in rehab. When I got out, my sponsor (same one who, before I went to rehab, told me I wasn't doing enough while I was working through step 4) told me to start over at step 1 that I wasn't ready for going on to the 6th.

I am very grateful to have found SR, where there are a lot of people who have used a many different methods to achieve lasting sobriety.

Regardless, you are 100% on the mark when you say people like us can't drink!