First smart meeting
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Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 293
This is where the rubber hits the road with your addiction and recovery. If your AV is screaming at you to get lost in drinking to deal with this, it is an absolute BS lie! We have all heard that voice before.
It is great that you are attending the meeting today!
It is great that you are attending the meeting today!
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Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 2,279
I'm away next two weeks at least so can't go back to that meeting. But I'll go to another one (twice a week) in the weeks I'm away in the new city. I'll also go to AA if I feel at all 'risky'.
But it didn't feel like a ongoing, 'home' group if that makes sense? Maybe my hopes are too high
But it didn't feel like a ongoing, 'home' group if that makes sense? Maybe my hopes are too high
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Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 11,424
Pretty normal, I would think. Make a plan to go regularly for awhile to really reap the benefits of the collective. It takes time to build new habits, and your Addictive Voice may kick in soon enough saying you don’t need it, you’re wasting your time, etc.
However, many people on this list say that early resistance gives way as real benefits from FTF interactions from people with similar issues accrue.
Additionally, your family will also see that you are taking frequent, observable action to make real and lasting changes. That’s no small thing after years of talking quitting but doing nothing to really back it up.
Oh, just saw your post saying no home group. Hello AV
However, many people on this list say that early resistance gives way as real benefits from FTF interactions from people with similar issues accrue.
Additionally, your family will also see that you are taking frequent, observable action to make real and lasting changes. That’s no small thing after years of talking quitting but doing nothing to really back it up.
Oh, just saw your post saying no home group. Hello AV
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Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 2,279
Hawkeye I'll be on guard but I think my wife may have killed my AV
. 12 days in and it hasn't said a word (I'm half joking because of course I'm on guard, but at the same time I'm not dealing with problems if they don't exist!)
. 12 days in and it hasn't said a word (I'm half joking because of course I'm on guard, but at the same time I'm not dealing with problems if they don't exist!)Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 11,424
AV is often indirect, subtle, and sneaky.
Too bad spouse can’t kill them or my husband would be on trail for AV murder.
Yours is alive and simply submerged looking for better times—remember 12 days is just the first steps on the sobriety journey. I think perhaps this “feeling” which makes you ready to dismiss your local SMART group after attending only one meeting is maybe AV trying to influence you away from tools that can be powerful. AV is way smarter and often less obvious in its mechanizations than we expect since we expect the obvious cravings.
Don’t underestimate it ever. . . I did repeatedly as have many others here and it always led to relapse by paths short and obvious, or long and apparently “safe”. You’re playing for high stakes here. . .
Too bad spouse can’t kill them or my husband would be on trail for AV murder.
Yours is alive and simply submerged looking for better times—remember 12 days is just the first steps on the sobriety journey. I think perhaps this “feeling” which makes you ready to dismiss your local SMART group after attending only one meeting is maybe AV trying to influence you away from tools that can be powerful. AV is way smarter and often less obvious in its mechanizations than we expect since we expect the obvious cravings.
Don’t underestimate it ever. . . I did repeatedly as have many others here and it always led to relapse by paths short and obvious, or long and apparently “safe”. You’re playing for high stakes here. . .
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Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 732
My smart group was mainly for the newly sober and struggling people, after a few of those we sort of branch off to the 'lose the booze' group, a much more intimate group entirely focused on sobriety. It was twelve weeks long - isn't there anything else attached to your organisation? I used to have to sleep after my smart meetings they were so draining.
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Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 2,279
Originally Posted by daisy1 
My smart group was mainly for the newly sober and struggling people, after a few of those we sort of branch off to the 'lose the booze' group, a much more intimate group entirely focused on sobriety. It was twelve weeks long - isn't there anything else attached to your organisation? I used to have to sleep after my smart meetings they were so draining.
Yes, the lady in charge spoke to me and recommended other things I could do with the organisation, including rehab! I'm not sure that group was the best long term, but I'll keep showing up and let it whittle down to what I need. As I said I'm going to have to access other groups next weeks out of necessity so let's see how the cards fall
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Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 5,169
Do your AA meetings seem as intense as smart? I used to go to AA meetings when I was out of town, and I would meet new people. I came to the conclusion that my small hometown meeting was more of the anomaly than the rule. The formats of all AA meetings are pretty much identical, but the make up of the group can change the whole feeling, as well as your impressions.
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Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: Christchurch, NZ
Posts: 517
Look at it from another angle.
Did you ever start a new job and then feel like you had learnt everything you needed to know about the new role in 2 hours ?
Or was it more like 200 hours (or even more)
I back what Hawkeye said, AV / Alcoholism can show up in various guises to try and put a wedge between whatever it perceives has the possibility to end your drinking.
Did you ever start a new job and then feel like you had learnt everything you needed to know about the new role in 2 hours ?
Or was it more like 200 hours (or even more)
I back what Hawkeye said, AV / Alcoholism can show up in various guises to try and put a wedge between whatever it perceives has the possibility to end your drinking.
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