Dee74

Everyone's response reflects their experience, awuh.

For the record I too believe it's inner motivation that counts - and I (like Anna) have seen success here with all kinds of methods.

The board would be pretty boring, and nowhere near as useful, if we all shared someone else's experience?

D

Hevyn

I also got sober using SR alone.

When I came here I was drinking all day. Reading and posting here, plus the fear of death, has kept me sober 6 & 1/2 yrs.

GreenEggsAndHam

Dee, not really. I'm doing well right now but I do take Antabuse when I need it. Will probably go back to my psych and then find a therapist who I click with a little better than the one I had.

Dee74

I really do recommend some kind of plan, strategy or at least looking at some changes in your life

I know I tried to stay sober a bunch of times without wanting to really change my life, and I kept getting dragged back to square one....

D

silentrun

I consider myself on the spectrum. I probably have a few toes over the addict line and clearly can see full blown from where I am. Wasn't an all day drinker but I really wanted to be. The reason I only drank a pint of whiskey a day was because that's all I bought. (I can't believe I said only about a pint)
I don't use AA. I agree with your therapist in a way though. You need other people who understand what you are going through. You need friends to get through this. I did that spending hours a night here.

Nuudawn

I was in therapy last year when I put down the drink last June and re-fired up my membership here at SR. Although she herself had cleaned up many years ago via AA..my therapist was alright with me not attending AA. She did know that SR was a huge part of my recovery also. I was still drinking when I initiated that therapy. I started doing my BEST work in that therapy when I got stone cold sober 6 months into it. I terminated that therapy when I went back to drinking and the toxic relationship I INITIALLY went to the therapy for.

In my relapse I started to realize how small and unproductive my life was again becoming.. My drinking was much like DoubleDragons...
I sobered up again and scheduled a one off appointment with my old therapist. She now knows I have added somewhat "small scale" AA to my recovery.

When I sobered up last year. I wrote out a list of all the things I would do rather than not drink and AA was on that list. I had been before but REALLY didn't want to return..no way..no how...but I was WILLING to if it would keep my sober.
I didn't stay sober.
I fell victim to isolating and lonelieness and went back to the bottle.
Soooooo...I added AA to my "recovery stew" as someone else put it.
I toured a whole bunch of meetings and picked "one".
A small and humble one.
That's my homegroup and it's the only one meeting I go to (and it's all I feel I need right now).
And I am actually started to LOVE that little Tuesday group. There's just "sumthin" about 'em.

For me, I have learned that I have to remain OPEN to whatever I MAY require.
If you really don't want to go to AA..well, don't go.
But if you relapse...
Hopefully you will return to sobriety and know what went wrong..
If you're life didn't change, if you didn't meet some friends who somehow supported your healthy, sober choices, ...then figure out how you can change that.
I don't like everyone in AA or believe everything the members of it say...
But there's good stuff there...IF you need it.

Soberjennie also touched on something that I find GOING to AA helps me with...tolerance of others and their differing opinions.

Bamboozle

Sober without AA. Not sure where I was on the spectrum, but glad I figured out it's not a race to the bottom.

awuh1

You have obviously misunderstood what I was saying.


Another blanket statement meant to apply to everyone. Sorry, but you do not speak for everyone. I believe (as Dee correctly points out) that it's best to speak from our own personal experience and not generalize to everyone else.

That's a better way to put it. Speaking about "a person" implies that the statement applies to everyone.

ESD907

all alone. No one knew I had a problem, No one knew I quit. Functioning alcoholic. ( well no one in my immediate family, sure a few rumblings, but I made sure fora few years I never drank around them prior to my quitting)

Nuudawn

I strongly agree with this
This is my 3rd go with AA...and it's my motivation which is making all the difference here. I am willing to do whatever I feel I need to stay sober..because I am strongly MOTIVATED to stay sober.

And nowhere did I see the word "just" motivation in Anna's comment.

skeletoncrue

AVRT for me.

Nowsthetime

No AA. SR only. Personal desicion and sticking to it. I was a binge drinker, never alone never in the am but still LOTS of problems with booze. 5 months in 2 days. First try. I feel really strong!

2muchpain

If I choose to drink again, it was my choice to do so. I can't blame the program I am involved in, or other people or situations. I have nobody to blame but myself, so it is my fault if I pick up again. Anybody that ends up in a bar or liquor store and drinks again has only themselves to blame, so it is their fault IMO. I mean, who else's fault can it be? I just can't see any other way to look at it. For me, motivation is the key factor in not drinking. If I am not motivated to stay sober, no program is going to work.

Jtf7

I am new to this board and I'm curious how sober recovery is so effective in helping people stay sober. It is so easy to have a drink in your hand when you are in the privacy of your own home typing away. What is it about this site, that help people stay the course?

LadyinBC

I think a persona can stay sober without AA. For me it really boils down to how much I want to stay sober. And the effort I put into it. For me, I have to do something. I do go to AA, WFS and some SMART and these programs are tools for me.

People have to find their own way and what works for them. As long as you keep an open mind, that is what I think is important.

Soberpotamus

I only speak for myself. I figured that was a given... whenever I make a general statement, I am still only able to speak for myself. It was an implication, but I can see that I will have to be more careful with my wording. I'm sorry you feel as if I tried to speak for others... I do not. And never will.

Dee74

For me it helped to know I wasn't alone. I could come here, any hour, day or night and receive support.

I kept reading my story in other people's words and I saw them getting sober and staying that way.

That was a huge help to me - when I couldn't quite believe in myself yet, I could believe in those who'd gone before me

Other people believed in me. That was gobsmacking to me.

It was accountability too. They didn't let me down and I wanted to repay the favour

D

Soberpotamus

As Dee has said... people are here 24/7. All the stories to be read... so many stories that affirm that we are in the right place for support by people who've been there and done it.

Also... another thing is that I find I'm able to communicate so much better in a forum. I can take my time, read and digest things, and think about what I'll say and then edit before (or right after) posting. You don't get to do that face to face. It's so much easier to articulate yourself in writing. It allows for that pause that is so vital in communication, especially when there's something that I'm not able to digest right away, something that gets me heated, etc.

The stories here and going to be like stories anywhere... AA, SMART, WFS, you name it... we are the same cross section of people you will find at any of those program meetings.

But I have to say that one very interesting thing that's happened for me since I've been at SR is that I continue to digest things that have been said since those earlier days... I find the people who rubbed me wrong at first no longer do! And people I didn't notice before, I notice now! It's been a great learning experience here. I can see how much my thinking processes and even my personality have changed since three years ago. I'm reading things here now that I wouldn't have given second thoughts to three years ago.

Spectered

No AA here. Just SR, and so far it's been working great. I finally accepted the fact that I am incapable of controlled drinking, which to me was far more important that determining where I was on the problem drinker/alcoholic spectrum.

SoberHoopsFan

Sober 69 days so far without that recovery program (although I use SR religiously and have taken bits and pieces from other programs). I don't really use labels. I'm near certain of one thing, I'm 33 years old, and if I continue drinking/drugging the way I have the past 16 years, I will not make it to 40. Not sure what that qualifies me as, but I had a serious serious death wish with the way I abused alcohol and (sometimes) drugs. Right now, I'm a non-drinker enjoying sobriety and (hopefully) a long and healthy life the rest of the way. Someone like me can never drink in safety or moderation, I know that much. The idea that I could ever have "one drink" could be fatal for someone like me.

Overall lesson? Put down the drink, don't worry about labels, just worry about never ever having that first drink again. It will save your life.