AA Today
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SoCal, California
Posts: 990
AA Today
I've tried on my own for a couple years now and it didn't work.
There is no more time for me to drink and get away with it.
I don't like to share my problems with others so that is going to be really hard to do. Plus I'm not a very social person so that will be difficult as well.
The devotion to the Big Book bothers me as well. Feels a lot like religion. I pray all the time. But not as part of a religion with rules and dogma.
Finally, I don't even like the idea of a sponsor.
Ha! Not a lot of enthusiasm there. LOL
But I have no choice. Nothing is working and I have to make the change now. Today.
This site - the people, the moderators, the whole thing has really helped me to got to the point where I can try it out.
The success stories make me want that in my life. Even with all the drama that comes about I can't help but think - "At least they're sober!"
So - I don't know what will happen but I'm starting that journey of asking for help form others.
There is no more time for me to drink and get away with it.
I don't like to share my problems with others so that is going to be really hard to do. Plus I'm not a very social person so that will be difficult as well.
The devotion to the Big Book bothers me as well. Feels a lot like religion. I pray all the time. But not as part of a religion with rules and dogma.
Finally, I don't even like the idea of a sponsor.
Ha! Not a lot of enthusiasm there. LOL
But I have no choice. Nothing is working and I have to make the change now. Today.
This site - the people, the moderators, the whole thing has really helped me to got to the point where I can try it out.
The success stories make me want that in my life. Even with all the drama that comes about I can't help but think - "At least they're sober!"
So - I don't know what will happen but I'm starting that journey of asking for help form others.
Re-Tread
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Meditation
Posts: 1,300
I did not want to join AA either. I really dont know anyone who aspired to be there. I do know I have made friends with 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, and 30 years of sobriety though. They obviously know something I don't. It just took me a lot of pain to find the willingness to listen.
Now I love AA. I've learned so much in this short time, and I feel like I finally have a chance to live a sober and happy life.
Now I love AA. I've learned so much in this short time, and I feel like I finally have a chance to live a sober and happy life.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: San Diego
Posts: 522
Originally Posted by Dave42001 
Don't worry about a sponsor or the God part today, just go.. You don't have to say a word.. You will be welcome and feel welcome!! It's only one hour of your day!! Good luck!!
You can do it clearlight, we're rooting for you!
-SD
Member
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Colorado
Posts: 3,781
Just have an open mind.. Sit back and listen.. As far as the God thing your higher power can be many things.. Step 3 says God as we understood Him. It's a personal deal.. They really don't care who your HP is.. Net net they just care about helping people stay sober!
Here's a link to the big book online.. They will give you a hard copy when you go just ask..
Big Book On Line
Wishing you the best!!
Here's a link to the big book online.. They will give you a hard copy when you go just ask..
Big Book On Line
Wishing you the best!!
Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Mid-Atlantic USA
Posts: 2,441
Have you considered SMART Recovery? You may want to check out their website and see if there are meetings in you area. I've been considering groups and on paper SMART seems to align nicely with my ideals and world view.
Of course, there is also the Secular Recovery forum on this site. There's a lot of good info there.
Of course, there is also the Secular Recovery forum on this site. There's a lot of good info there.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SoCal, California
Posts: 990
they come to share the SOLUTION
Feenixx-
I've started looking into SMART. It's interesting - I may use some SMART stuff and AA stuff.
Just to be clear - I don't have a problem with the higher power stuff. I pray all the time. It's just that, from the outside, AA can appear to be like a religion all it's own.
Doesn't matter - I won't know until I've tried it.
Thanks for everybone's input.
A work in progress
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: South Jersey
Posts: 16,633
Let me explain a little bit about AA. I think I get where you are coming from about the "religion" (not the "God thing," per se, since you have no problem with that). What I'm betting you are talking about is the quoting of the BB, the readings, the rituals (which can sound a bit like a liturgy, lol). Am I warm? 
AA is a very interesting thing. It is an anarchy that has survived for over 75 years. There are 12 Traditions, but apart from that very little real organization. The groups send representatives to the various levels of the service structure, but the "leaders" only do what the groups tell them to do. Nobody up top can tell some group, much less the individual member, what he or she can or cannot do.
And the MEMBERS. OMG, you have everybody from guys or women literally just out of the proverbial gutter on up to highly respected pillars of the community, rich people, poor people, people in prison. But the deal is, however different we all are, the SAME basic program of recovery, the 12 Steps, seems to work for us all. So people naturally want to learn how to do it so they will recover. And to that end, everybody looks to the book that explains EXACTLY how the first 100 or so members recovered. Remember, back in the day--back in the 1930s when AA first started--the only members were THE very MOST hopeless of alcoholics. They were people who everyone else--doctors, shrinks, judges, families--had completely written off. And conventional wisdom of the time was that those people would eventually die or go insane. And that was true for a lot of alcoholics back then because there was nothing that seemed to work with any degree of consistency.
Somehow, though, one alcoholic discovered something that kept him sober, and when he shared it with other alcoholics, for some odd reason it kept HIM sober. So the thing just grew geometrically. And now that AA has become so huge, with so many thousands of groups all over the world, what is interesting is that any alcoholic can walk into almost any meeting, anywhere in the world, and feel right at home. Everyone uses the same Big Book (though they may read it in a different language). Everyone follows the same Traditions (even if they have local customs that vary).
I'm doing a lot of traveling in my new job right now. When I went to a week-long training my organization was giving on the other side of the country in January, I started getting a little bent out of shape with my colleagues who picked every restaurant for its drink menu and who drooled over every cocktail. On the fourth night, I skipped the group dinner and found an AA meeting near my hotel. Instant attitude adjustment. I had a lovely meeting with four strangers who were friends by the end of the meeting. I will be traveling overseas this year, and hope to go to meetings in Spain and in the South Pacific. I know I will be welcome, whether the meetings are in English or not.
AA history is a fascinating subject. But no, we don't worship Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob (admirable though their work for AA was), and we don't worship the Big Book either, though most of us do feel that the solution to living sober, happily, lies between its covers.
I hope you will keep comin' back--if you do, I think you will start to understand what I'm talking about.
AA is a very interesting thing. It is an anarchy that has survived for over 75 years. There are 12 Traditions, but apart from that very little real organization. The groups send representatives to the various levels of the service structure, but the "leaders" only do what the groups tell them to do. Nobody up top can tell some group, much less the individual member, what he or she can or cannot do.
And the MEMBERS. OMG, you have everybody from guys or women literally just out of the proverbial gutter on up to highly respected pillars of the community, rich people, poor people, people in prison. But the deal is, however different we all are, the SAME basic program of recovery, the 12 Steps, seems to work for us all. So people naturally want to learn how to do it so they will recover. And to that end, everybody looks to the book that explains EXACTLY how the first 100 or so members recovered. Remember, back in the day--back in the 1930s when AA first started--the only members were THE very MOST hopeless of alcoholics. They were people who everyone else--doctors, shrinks, judges, families--had completely written off. And conventional wisdom of the time was that those people would eventually die or go insane. And that was true for a lot of alcoholics back then because there was nothing that seemed to work with any degree of consistency.
Somehow, though, one alcoholic discovered something that kept him sober, and when he shared it with other alcoholics, for some odd reason it kept HIM sober. So the thing just grew geometrically. And now that AA has become so huge, with so many thousands of groups all over the world, what is interesting is that any alcoholic can walk into almost any meeting, anywhere in the world, and feel right at home. Everyone uses the same Big Book (though they may read it in a different language). Everyone follows the same Traditions (even if they have local customs that vary).
I'm doing a lot of traveling in my new job right now. When I went to a week-long training my organization was giving on the other side of the country in January, I started getting a little bent out of shape with my colleagues who picked every restaurant for its drink menu and who drooled over every cocktail. On the fourth night, I skipped the group dinner and found an AA meeting near my hotel. Instant attitude adjustment. I had a lovely meeting with four strangers who were friends by the end of the meeting. I will be traveling overseas this year, and hope to go to meetings in Spain and in the South Pacific. I know I will be welcome, whether the meetings are in English or not.
AA history is a fascinating subject. But no, we don't worship Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob (admirable though their work for AA was), and we don't worship the Big Book either, though most of us do feel that the solution to living sober, happily, lies between its covers.
I hope you will keep comin' back--if you do, I think you will start to understand what I'm talking about.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 429
One thing they stress in our treatment is religion & spirtuality are 2 different things.
Your higher Power can be what ever you believe.
Just admitting you can not do this on your own & you are powerless over alcohol.
I know personally I chose to embrace AA, as my treatment program is coming to an end & I need to keep a constant sobriety support system.
As my counselor reminds us all the time "MEETING MAKERS, MAKE IT"
Stay Strong, Peace
Your higher Power can be what ever you believe.
Just admitting you can not do this on your own & you are powerless over alcohol.
I know personally I chose to embrace AA, as my treatment program is coming to an end & I need to keep a constant sobriety support system.
As my counselor reminds us all the time "MEETING MAKERS, MAKE IT"
Stay Strong, Peace
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SoCal, California
Posts: 990
Lexi - thanks for the great explanation. I like coming to this site. There's a good vibe here.
Yeah - having been raised Catholic, gone to Catholic school, been an alterboy and the whole nine yards, I'm pretty wary of rituals, readings and special books.
Even given all that I'm still going to at least get to some meetings and do some sharing and meet some people. I'll give it a real shot - not a just going through the motions kind of thing. Nothing else has worked and I can't wait anymore.
Besides, like the scene in the movie, "I got nowhere else to go!" LOL
I Got Nowhere Else to Go! - An Officer and a Gentleman (4/6) Movie CLIP (1982) HD - YouTube
Let me explain a little bit about AA. I think I get where you are coming from about the "religion" (not the "God thing," per se, since you have no problem with that). What I'm betting you are talking about is the quoting of the BB, the readings, the rituals (which can sound a bit like a liturgy, lol). Am I warm?
Even given all that I'm still going to at least get to some meetings and do some sharing and meet some people. I'll give it a real shot - not a just going through the motions kind of thing. Nothing else has worked and I can't wait anymore.
Besides, like the scene in the movie, "I got nowhere else to go!" LOL
I Got Nowhere Else to Go! - An Officer and a Gentleman (4/6) Movie CLIP (1982) HD - YouTube
Sobriety is Traditional
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Orcas Island, Washington
Posts: 9,067
I have a couple things to add--
My sponsor says, "If it's not practical, it's not spiritual." "Spirituality" is not some woo-woo, supernatural, esoteric concept. It is easy-to-understand principles such as honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness.
Also, about books--if you don't identify with the rituals and metaphors of the AA "Big Book," try Narcotics Anonymous literature. While I mostly go to AA meetings and have an AA sponsor, I use an NA book as my twelve-step guide.
My sponsor says, "If it's not practical, it's not spiritual." "Spirituality" is not some woo-woo, supernatural, esoteric concept. It is easy-to-understand principles such as honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness.
Also, about books--if you don't identify with the rituals and metaphors of the AA "Big Book," try Narcotics Anonymous literature. While I mostly go to AA meetings and have an AA sponsor, I use an NA book as my twelve-step guide.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 429
Originally Posted by Coldfusion
I have a couple things to add--
My sponsor says, "If it's not practical, it's not spiritual." "Spirituality" is not some woo-woo, supernatural, esoteric concept. It is easy-to-understand principles such as honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness.
Also, about books--if you don't identify with the rituals and metaphors of the AA "Big Book," try Narcotics Anonymous literature. While I mostly go to AA meetings and have an AA sponsor, I use an NA book as my twelve-step guide.
My sponsor says, "If it's not practical, it's not spiritual." "Spirituality" is not some woo-woo, supernatural, esoteric concept. It is easy-to-understand principles such as honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness.
Also, about books--if you don't identify with the rituals and metaphors of the AA "Big Book," try Narcotics Anonymous literature. While I mostly go to AA meetings and have an AA sponsor, I use an NA book as my twelve-step guide.
But the treatment program I am in is for Drugs & Alcohol.
So I share a group with a mix of people.
we do readings, & work out of both books. It really is true that it is all poison & self destruction, its just a matter of how we get it in our body. I find loads of great stuff out of the NA book.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SoCal, California
Posts: 990
Coldfusion, Sunshine-
Thanks for the different suggestions.
One of the things I like about this site is that folks are pretty flexible in the path to sobriety. Some folks use SMART, some use AA, and some use different 12 step approaches. What ever works.
I don't know which one will actually work for me. Maybe it's a blend.
Seems like I need to actually work on my sobriety everyday - at least for now. Either a meeting or reading or something. But seems like I need to be actually engaged in a activity that is part of keeping me sober. Something that helps me learn about my condition and how to stay clean. Otherwise I completely 'forget' about my sobriety at the end of the work day. It just disappears from my brain.
Thanks for the different suggestions.
One of the things I like about this site is that folks are pretty flexible in the path to sobriety. Some folks use SMART, some use AA, and some use different 12 step approaches. What ever works.
I don't know which one will actually work for me. Maybe it's a blend.
Seems like I need to actually work on my sobriety everyday - at least for now. Either a meeting or reading or something. But seems like I need to be actually engaged in a activity that is part of keeping me sober. Something that helps me learn about my condition and how to stay clean. Otherwise I completely 'forget' about my sobriety at the end of the work day. It just disappears from my brain.
Doing Business Since 11/3/2012
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Colorado
Posts: 1,143
ClearLight, I'm like you. I have said nobody hates crowds more than me. I am also very private. But, going to AA is something I needed to at least check out. I needed to see what it is all about. I have been to about 10 or so meetings. I do not share much, but I go and listen. I am gradually warming up to a few people there. Honestly, the old timers respect those that come and just listen. It has helped me a great deal and I enjoy it. There are some great FUNNY people there.
As far as god goes, someone else has answered this, but it is your higher power, your God. It is the God that you understand. I have not yet heard anyone quote the Bible or even say Jesus.
As far as god goes, someone else has answered this, but it is your higher power, your God. It is the God that you understand. I have not yet heard anyone quote the Bible or even say Jesus.
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