freshstart57

It's always a good idea to talk over your alcohol consumption with your doctor and take advice on withdrawal assistance. I see cravings to be another thing altogether because WDs can be lifethreatening whereas cravings have absolutely zero physiological context. All in your mind, in other words.

For urges and cravings, I did three things:

• Recognition of the urge to drink, expanded into a full awareness with all my senses
• Separation of these thoughts from my essence simply because I have chosen not to drink. Ever. These thoughts are not me. And,
• Acceptance that these thoughts will pop up from time to time. They don't scare me anymore because I know that they are powerless. I have the ability to control my hands, it is my cravings that are powerless, not me.

Urge surfing is a special kind of awareness, and it is about experiencing the thoughts without feeling a compulsion to act on them. The wave approaches, lifts you up, and then passes, leaving you behind as you were. Sober.

Serenidad

I bought the Rational Recovery book yesterday! I feel hopeful! Has anyone else read it?

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ando68

Serenidad,,
I have read it & found it extremely useful. I now use a combination of Avrt & lifering and it works just fine for me. Only conflict I have with the two approaches is ,,, it states that no support is necessary to practice the AVRT & going to support groups is discouraged,,, lifering on the other hand encourages support group participation. I find the support groups in lifering really helpful & I enjoy meeting people on a similar journey, so I combine the two.
They are both self empowering methods of staying clean & sober, so that all sits well with me.
Enjoy the book.,, maybe it's time I read it again myself.

MesaMan

A brilliant Post from freshstart57. As usual...

Nice to hear of the combination of Methods, and even nicer to hear it's working for you ando68.

The oppressive Dogma in some of the other Threads baffles me. Why would a Person go back ~20 times, as one Fellow stated, to 'Traditional' Methods that appear to cause so many to struggle to find ways to work around not-very-subtle, Deity-based Messages shoved down their Throats. I just don't get it.

Find a blend of of Methods, and run with it; unconcerned with Dogma. How refreshing to hear! What if everyone thought for themselves?

FT

Independent thought is discouraged in our society. Dogma controls the masses.

I don't suppose I blame those who fall into lockstep with group mentality and groupspeak. Stepping out involves risk -- of rejection, of consternation, of lots of things involved when you "out" yourself as an independent thinker. If you are the sort that requires validation of your every move, that's not the way for you.

I'm just not a "formula" person and could not do a step program. I'm not "opposed" to them, but they just are not for me. I've never read RR but I've read the "crash" program and used to be in touch with Terminally Unique when he was here. He was such an asset, and I was so sorry to see him leave.

I now use something akin to RR just as a matter of life, as basal urges occasionally threaten to disrupt my healthy lifestyle. I have not drunk alcohol for many years, but I did have an opiate "addiction" after orthopedic surgery and used the RR method then to shut that down. I put "addiction" in quotes because I am no longer addicted to anything. I dislike labels, and I don't need one to keep me on the right path.

trachemys

Quite literally for some of us.

I'm feeding my receptors with antidepressants instead of alcohol. I was self-medicating. Now, I'm not.

RolyPoly

Awesome thread. I'm going to try RR as well. Left an AA meeting halfway through tonight because I just couldn't take it any more. Really, AA is enough to drive me right back to my chardonnay! Day 9 and looking for a better way than AA. It just is not the right answer for me.

SoberHoopsFan

It is not for everyone, and certain meetings depending on the group can be downright cult-like. I would also look into SMART recovery, the handbook is very cheap and it works as a good complement to RR. They also have a website with online meetings (there are in person meetings too, but sparse) and a forum and chatroom. It will give you other ideas about breaking your addiction to alcohol, AA is definitely not the only player in the game (as much of mainstream society believes).

freshstart57

Welcome RolyPoly, to the secular side. There's plenty o' support for you here, and lots of stuff to read. Make yourself comfy and right at home.

SMART stuff is great for coming to the place in your head of quitting, and keeping an even emotional keel through the roller coaster of early sobriety. Much of SMART is just plain good mental hygiene. AVRT (Rational Recovery) is about separating from those urges to drink with the understanding that you are not powerless, and fully capable of making good decisions with the proper tools. They both have excellent free online resources.

Nonsensical

Welcome to Secular Connections RP! Glad you found us!

Serenidad

I know I'm the person that started this thread but I still haven't used RR. I bought the book....but haven't read it yet. Does it actually work? :-)

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LBrain

it works if you work it.

LBrain

all I ever did was the crash course - it was all I needed. simplicity.

Stewart888

Do you know freshstart57 that you are one of my closest friends on this site...yes we go back months))...but I have never read this....wow!!!!!!!!!!!! I love it....

dwtbd

One the best things that happened to me from SR(aside from finding out about RR and AVRT) was my first "badass" appellation from freshstarts57, that dude rocks!

anattaboy

I concur that Freshstarts' RR and AVRT posts validated and gave some (fresh?) food for thought for myself 6 weeks or so ago when I was struggling.... It works very well for me (AVRT crash course) as my primary attitudinal approach. Supplements, eating well, exercise, and hard work help the physical, and meditation for the spiritual. I attend a meeting once in awhile but not for the reasons I used to. Multi-faceted approach works best for a lot of us. Keep seeking and you will find.

SoberHoopsFan

It is very effective in my opinion. Religion, God, etc.... has NOTHING to do with addiction or breaking it. It is the individual and their choice, I don't care what program they are working, they are ultimately the ones who either choose or not choose to drink. The reality is that religion gets interjected into every part of society by people dating back to the Puritans and the foundation of my country (America). Hence, wars, politics, social values, Supreme Court decisions, addiction, etc... for much of society, religion HAS to be involved or you're either going to hell or doomed to a miserable existence. If you really think about it, it makes little sense, but that's what the idea of an invisible master in the sky with puppet strings always boils down to for me.

Ok rant over, but think freely and logically and you can beat any addiction in my opinion... doesn't make it easy, but that's the truth. That's all RR is. Don't make your sobriety contingent upon others, or you are just replacing one addiction for another.

VikingGF

Same here!! I was quite excited to achieve badass status.

Sulu1

I've just recently read the RR book and it makes so much sense, I can't believe I couldn't think like that myself.

It's early days but from all the recovery methods I've looked into this one really seems to fit with me. Nothing makes me drink but me, not depression, disease, I choose to do it because I don't control the thought process.

I was finding AA an absolute nightmare to say the least. Every meeting seemed to make me want to drink even more. If one more person told me I had a disease I was going to burst! I still got a lot from it and don't write off going to more meetings, mainly for the face to face speaking.

Not trying to knock it, different things work for different people. Glad to have found you guys