Newcomer-Day2
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: North America
Posts: 8
Newcomer-Day2
Long time lurker, first post. I am a student, and almost got kicked out of school for my drinking. I am on Day 2, usually can't make it past 3 days. Been to 2 AA meetings and found them too religious for my taste. Anyway, I need to post to get past these hard days and get some support while not thinking about the need to drink. I find this to be a great forum.
-bismuth
-bismuth
A work in progress
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: South Jersey
Posts: 16,633
Hi, bismuth, and welcome.
There are people here who have done just fine without AA. I do want to just clear up a possible misunderstanding, though.
You will hear a lot of talk in the rooms about "God," but the Big Book (and the Steps) are very clear that "God" means any power greater than yourself that you can turn to for the power to recover. For some people (and there are atheists and agnostics in AA who stay sober just fine without worshipping or even acknowledging a deity), they use the power of the universe, or even the power of the group. The Big Book defines a "spiritual awakening" as "a change of personality sufficient to recover from alcoholism." So the spiritual path that AA advocates has nothing to do with believing in a traditional "God," but rather making the internal changes in your life that can lead to happy sobriety, where you don't have to drink to have fun or to feel comfortable in your own skin.
I know it's confusing when you first come into the rooms and hear all this stuff about God and prayer, but it's not necessarily about what you've always thought of as God and prayer.
Just wanted to clarify that in case you ever want to revisit AA--it has been great for helping me.
There are people here who have done just fine without AA. I do want to just clear up a possible misunderstanding, though.
You will hear a lot of talk in the rooms about "God," but the Big Book (and the Steps) are very clear that "God" means any power greater than yourself that you can turn to for the power to recover. For some people (and there are atheists and agnostics in AA who stay sober just fine without worshipping or even acknowledging a deity), they use the power of the universe, or even the power of the group. The Big Book defines a "spiritual awakening" as "a change of personality sufficient to recover from alcoholism." So the spiritual path that AA advocates has nothing to do with believing in a traditional "God," but rather making the internal changes in your life that can lead to happy sobriety, where you don't have to drink to have fun or to feel comfortable in your own skin.
I know it's confusing when you first come into the rooms and hear all this stuff about God and prayer, but it's not necessarily about what you've always thought of as God and prayer.
Just wanted to clarify that in case you ever want to revisit AA--it has been great for helping me.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: SE and then South some more
Posts: 2,648
Hey Bismuth, keep posting and coming back.
I relate to the "too religious", they're not all like that. They all usually do the Serenity Prayer and then the Lord's Prayer at the end, not all are the same. Just so you know, you DON'T have to believe in God or whatever anyone else is preaching to get sober. Just be a spiritual person with good conscience. Throw me in that group.
I hope you can make it through to the end of the week, once you get going, you'll want to keep going. Welcome to SR, this place is awesome and tons of great people here that can offer support, suggestions, experience and friendship.
I relate to the "too religious", they're not all like that. They all usually do the Serenity Prayer and then the Lord's Prayer at the end, not all are the same. Just so you know, you DON'T have to believe in God or whatever anyone else is preaching to get sober. Just be a spiritual person with good conscience. Throw me in that group.
I hope you can make it through to the end of the week, once you get going, you'll want to keep going. Welcome to SR, this place is awesome and tons of great people here that can offer support, suggestions, experience and friendship.
Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Dancing in the Light
Posts: 61,469
Whatever method of recovery you choose, you are welcome to join us here. We do understand how hard this is, and personally I think that motivation is the key. Do you really want this? Then, go for it.
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