JJK

so, ive been to SMART before, but finally got on their website and registered on their message boards. lots of good stuff. been reading it all night and hope to attend an online meeting tomorrow and a face to face on monday. this sort of approach is right up my alley too.

i left "name witheld" program many months ago. decided if it wasnt a "disease", then i didnt have anything to have to stay on top of or work on. i was alone, pissed off, depressed, all of these things just snuck up subtly then all of a sudden it was like "im in too deep". a few weeks back started to drink occassionally to kill those feelings. last couple weeks its been about everyday. at home alone. its just a crappy feeling. it didnt even hit me til today that "hey, remember you have this one problem".

im sober right now. i dont have the cravings, thank god. my only concern is keeping hope alive and doing things thatll make me feel good and not down or bored or pity, etc, then i probably wont have to go to the store, for now, i dont think. and will probably feel better about things in general as well.

onlythetruth

Good job, JJK. Yes, the SMART website is full of wonderful stuff. No need to repeat all of it here, when it's so easy to go over there and get access to all of it.

You might want to order a copy of the SMART Recovery Handbook if you haven't done so already.

lilac0721

JJK, me too! I checked out the SMART website a couple of years ago. Then again spent some time on the forums just over a week ago. All the while trying to convince myself of the efficacy of the unnamed program. Guess what? In the midst of some hopelessness last week, I picked up again.

I printed out the CBA and Change Plan Worksheets. I'll have to check out the handbook that OTT mentioned.

Let's do this!

JJK

lets do this! when i checked out smart before, just 2 meetings, i didnt really get into the tools. wow, these are priceless..

yeah, i have to get the handbook next. its been a lot for me to take in..

JJK

i just did a long ass cba. wow.. one look at it and anyone would be like "why the hell would this kid ever want to drink"?

JJK

i went to a face 2 face meeting last night. its a small group here, but greatful to have one. its basically the same people from when i went to go check it out last year. thats a good thing, its a testimant to people staying sober via this method. the guy with the least time there had 8 months, another girl was coming up on 5 years.

i like how i always feel comfortable there. in other sobriety situations, even where ive known everybody, i havent felt this way.

the open discussion as it goes around the room is awsome too. cross talk is encouraged. i can think of places where if you tried this itd be like opening the flood gates to hell.

it sucks that its only once a week now. but atleast i know where ill be monday nights.

lilac0721

Wow, you are so lucky to have face to face meetings. That is one thing I do like about the other more dominant program...they're everywhere! I like meeting other people dealing with the same stuff. The closest SMART meeting to me is about 3 hours away! I suppose I ought to check out the chat meetings through the website.

I ordered the SMART Recovery handbook a couple of days ago. I did a CBA and think I need to copy it and put one everywhere (desk at work, planner, bedroom, etc) as a constant reminder.