Who is sober without AA?
 

Were you what you consider a "problem drinker" or a full-blown alcoholic (I know this is subjective)?

Just curious to hear some experiences.

I do not use AA, and for me, I was a problem drinker. However, I finally had to admit to myself that it didn't matter the label, ( alcoholic, binge drinker, problem drinker), I can't drink. I don't HAVE to have it, but I liked alcohol a little too much.

No AA for me. The people around me seemed to think I was a full blown alcoholic. Maybe it was just a five year binge instead, but I agree with them.

I go to meetings but to drink or not is on me and I don't drink. Problem drinkers from the beginning of time have found the abstinence solution to work well.

I very sporadically attend AA meetings; maybe once a month. I am very much a full-blown alcoholic. In Nov. I will have two years of sobriety. For me at this point in my recovery, SR and regular counseling sessions with my therapist appears to be working for me :)

Hmmm see my therapist is big on AA and naggged me to go. She says your chance of remaining sober greatly diminishes without it.

Without AA. I went for about 6 months. I found it to be "this way is the only way".

Usually such questions, as well as the way you titled your post, indicate a problem with one's recovery? Will identification with one or the other (problem drinker or alcoholic) ease your struggle to find sobriety?

I consider myself someone who cannot drink. Perhaps periodic alcoholic best fits if we need labels, it was rare for me to drink Sun-Thur, but I was often a drunken maniac Fri/Sat.
I started with AA, then moved to Celebrate Recovery. I never considered myself religious, but faith is at the center of my recovery. My involvement here at SR is also important, I like that I can plug in anytime I need to or have time.

I can't drink alcohol. I consider myself a recovering alcoholic though I do not advertise this to just anyone. I have used SMART, WFS, AVRT, AA, 20 days in IOP, counseling, recovery books... and now, dog therapy :) I'm sober nearly 500 days.

I would suggest you take a moment and go back and read some of the threads you started. Specifically 03-08-2014, 08:34 AM A little epiphany from a stubborn alcoholic .

The label is not as important as what alcohol does to you and your life.

I was definitely a full-blown alcoholic and I do not use AA.

The only thing that matters is that you do what works for you.

I'm not sure what I am/was...don't know yet...I have stopped drinking with no assistance on one occasion for 4 years, and then started taking too many of the pain killers the dr gave me...then after four years I thought I could control drink...then it spiralled.
I used to drink steadily from when I got up at 5 am to when I dropped off to sleep...and in the night if I woke up...that's a problem in my opinion label or not. I started drinking again last November and in that short space of time I am back to square one but this last few days I have felt completely rubbish in every way. I'm not sure if it's because I've just had enough or because I've been on this forum but this morning I got up...thought...no drinking today, before the thought was out of my head I'd had my first vodka ....I finished the bottle off and then decided I really have had enough, I felt really bad...I mean really ill....and that's the last drink I had....no great achievement I know it's only this morning but I had no desire to go buy it and no great fear because I don't have any in....I know it's not that easy and am under no illusions but I suppose it's a start
Cleo x:)

I doubt I'll go back to AA this time.

Carl - really just curious since some believe AA is THE way and others don't. Why some NEED it and some don't. I find it insteresting.

I think some people would like to have a nice neat little recovery package, instructions to follow, an official handbook... and that's fine :)

Others like to approach it more scientifically, and that's fine.

Some can handle spirituality and god talk, others not so much.

One important observation: My tolerance for others, and my tolerance for being open to suggestion and possibility... those are all increasing. I think that's a key measure of growth in healthy sobriety.

I strongly believe it's motivation, not the choice of program you follow.

I think when alcoholics find the recovery method that frees them from the bondage of alcohol and possible death, they are passionate about it and passionate about promoting it. There's more than enough evidence on the forums of Sober Recovery to prove that there is more than one way to get and stay sober.

Those that don't find a method, or who aren't passionate in working the one they've picked, drink.

So GE&H, your struggles. Are they a failure of method? Or lack of passion about sobriety?

I'm not sure what I described myself as, all I knew was alcohol was destroying my life and something needed to change, Sobriety was the answer!!

I personally don't use AA, but what I do is immaterial, the important thing is what YOU do in your plan to remain Sober, there are many ways to be Sober, different means to the same end, and that goal is to be Sober!!

Do what works for you!! :)

I am over ten months sober with only using SR as my support group. I also have read a ton of books and literature, including the AA literature.

I hate labels, but I started blacking out while drinking alcohol almost from the get-go in my teens. I guess I was more of a binge drinker, but it got to be to the point that I was thinking about it way too much, that I was always planning for it, that I was trying to hide how much I was drinking, that I didn't want to do anything social that didn't involve alcohol. I had developed stomach ulcers from my culmination of wine and ibuprofen to stave off the frequent hangovers.

I am actually grateful that I decided to give sobriety a try when I still had any semblance of control. I think that is part of the reason why my relatively simple recovery method has worked for me. There is no doubt in my mind that it is progressive. My mom went from a nightly heavy drinker to a full blown alcoholic who is drunk several weekday mornings, every single week. It took years, but now I really don't think she could recover if she wanted to without detox and a serious, serious rehab. I really believe she has already caused serious damage to her body and to her brain. Why not give sobriety a real, honest, 6-9 month try when it is still a possibility to do it with an easy accessible recovery program (ie. SR, AA, Celebrate Recovery, AVRT)???

My only regret with sobriety, is that it didn't dawn on me to do it sooner!

I agree with Anna that it's probably more of a motivation or commitment to sobriety... the desire to stay sober... that is the underlying factor in many if not all of the programs or methods. Some in AA believe that their reliance on their Higher Power is what keeps them sober, but I tend to think their desire to remain sober is still there... even in the blank mental spot phenomenon. Could it be the Higher Power keeping them sober during the blank mental spot? Sure.

I connect my desire to stay sober with any sort of higher self, higher power, higher consciousness. I see it all as one in the same, and that works for me.