looking for someone to talk with
 

Hi all

I am seeking someone to talk with about trying to quit...I came here to secular conncetions to find someone that does not believe in a higher power and has been able to quit or is working on it. I know you are out there...if interested please PM me...

thanks

Mike

Hi Mike, although I do believe in a higher power, I don't believe it has much to do with my recovery. My recovery has to do with me.

Feel free to post away. I'm just not a PM sort of person.

Hi Mike,
When I started my recovery, I didn't believe in a higher power. That really didn't get in the way at first. I was able to see the collective power of a group of people working towards the same goal. That was significant for me. All these people believed that they could get sober, and were doing it. It motivated me. Plus there were girls at the meetings. That helped , too - just kidding.
Mike in Boston

Hi Mike,

I have not yet embraced the idea of a higher power, though I haven't ruled it out. I've seen many a post on here from people like us who question that part of recovery. Many have chosen to define their HP to be something other than God. An earlier post that you may enjoy is from someone else who is new here at SR:

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...-new-here.html

I very rarely discuss the HP part of how I'm doing with recovery, but it hasn't stopped me from making it 21 days. I don't attend AA either. I have to say right now, this web community has been my source of inspiration - or I should say, the people at this site have been.

So don't worry what your own beliefs are, you can still find someone here you can bond with. Just keep coming here for support and you'll do fine.

The "collective power" of which Mikel60 writes parallels my so-called "higher power". It is the Interconnectedness of all. In this, in making connections with others, we find ourselves. Keep posting. I will too.

I do not have a higher power. I did get sober twice in the program. Each time I suspended my disbelief and "came to believe". I couldn't do it a third time.

So far so good, this is my longest period not dranking or drugging. When I struggled I tried to focus on how horrible the last time was and the additional consequences I would face if I started again.

Memory of consequences is one of the things that keeps me sober, too. How many stupid scenes, blackouts, headaches, nausea, hospital trips, and on and on, does it take to get us to stay away from the stuff?

But my feeble little brain does sometimes require other people to remind me of that. I can't get down on my knees and ask God or Zeus or whomever for help, but at least I have people I can call and talk to. They are my "higher" power because they can be rational about my behavior in those moments when I can't.

I stick with a program (AA) because it helps me connect with those people. The only challenge is the disconnect I feel when some of them talk about their role in "God's Plan." I'm not sure if I envy them that feeling, but I'm sure I don't have it--I can't even make sense of it. Still, I'm sober and happy for today, and I'm doing other people some good too, in my way. That's worth something.

I don't have a higher power as such....

...but I know I'm a crabby, nasty, anxious, fearful, boastful, self-centered, greedy, needy, nasty (did I mention nasty?), neurotic son of a b**** sometimes. And I wish I wasn't like that and the more I'm like that, the more likely I am to drink. (I don't feel like that's very likely right now, but who knows what traps await.)

To not be crabby, nasty, etc. etc., what do I do? There's all sorts of stuff. I work out, I try to slow down and relax. I have a book of letters written by people about to be executed in the war, which sometimes I read slowly and think about slowly. But all of these things are just stuff I do - I can't make them work. All I can do is open myself up to some big old Outside. LIke you can't physically push a smell out of a room, you just open the window.

...is that a higher power? Maybe just an Outside.

Don't know if that makes any sense. It's kind of late and am off to bed. Night night.

New to sobriety
 

Hi, My name's Dave, I live in Hamiton,MT., and I've been sober for 3 weeks. I've lived here for 3 yrs. now and I attend the univ. in Missoula. This is a gay unfriendly town so there isn't any social life for me here. Missoula is an hour away and there is no regular bus service. I don't own a car. I would like to start an email correspondence, hopefully with someone who is also gay, but it's not important.