Thank you for the thought provoking post. I guess what comes to mind for me is that I share my experience strength and hope. Regardless of how I arrived the experience is my own. Anyone is free to take what they can use and leave the rest. I only hope to be of service.
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I didn't like the AA approach for me either. I do respect their plan for all the people it helps I found smart recovery meetings to be very helpful as well as mindfulness meditation and practice. For me some of the meetings can be a lot more about meeting people focused on recovery to help expand our social circles too
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The "it works if you work it" applies to more than just AA. Getting better only works if you work it.
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Smart Recovery. It's great.
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Aa has Been around longer then any other programs.and more then any program sober.
I thought this thread was dead.
Older doesn't necessarily mean better.
If you had a medical or psychological condition, would you rather they treat you using only textbooks and information available 90 years ago, or current, modern research and information?
As I stated before, I respect and value what AA has accomplished, and I'm glad it still helps some people to this day. I just feel some of those in the program have a few selfish and hurtful habits that they use to keep people in the program.
Yeah, bud. I'm in complete agreement that it's a WE thing.
Just don't ever tell someone that it's THEIR fault if a certain program didn't work for them. Don't tell them that they will DIE if they don't stick with the program that got YOU clean.
My CAPS in this post are not yelling, they are just to emphasize those words.
Congratulations by the way on the new you and that new life youāve chosen. Hope you keep hanging. Everyone is different. If itās working for you, then great.
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ļæ¼ stay sober bud! Thatās all that really matters here. personally, I do not see AA as an addiction or a religion but hey thatās just me. There are many path to recovery and I hope everyone of them leads to the same place. I would love to hear your positive experience with the program youāre currently working if you are. If not Iād like to know what you are doing to stay sober. I mean this in the most honest ways. Sharing about what works is so much important than sharing about what doesnāt. We have to remember that telling others why a program does not work for us itās not much different than telling others that they cannot stay sober if they do not do what worked for us.ļæ¼ļæ¼
The key to my sobriety so far has been meds, individual therapy, group therapy, not having any alcohol in my home, and reading a bit about different programs and others' experiences to glean nuggets of wisdom from each. I am not actively engaged in any program.
It's also important for me to stay vigilant this early in my recovery, knowing that I don't want to wind up back where I was.
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Thatās awesome! Keep doing what works for you! Staying vigilant is very important. Cheers to being sober, may it last foreverļæ¼ļæ¼ļæ¼.
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Also, I can kind of see what you mean about saying why a program didn't work can be detrimental, but it can also help to let people know that if it didn't work for them, there are other answers out there.
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I agree. My point was just sometimes when talking about other options out there itās more beneficial to talk about the good things of those options and why they work for you. Iām a member of AA. And I wholeheartedly donāt think that itās the only program in the world that works. Iāve just never worked any other programs so I cannot speak about their benefits.ļæ¼
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Yeah thatās a horrible thing to say to somebody coming back in. Or somebody in general. But there are jerks in AA just like there are jerks in the rest of the world. Learning that lesson helped me a lot. :-)ļæ¼
Thank you for this. I donāt feel very connected to AA and Iām starting to explore other options.
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Good for you on researching other options. I'm sorry AA didn't work out for you, but don't blame yourself or give up on yourself. Your answer is out there.
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Thank you. It didnāt necessarily fail me because I havenāt relapsed.. I just feel a bit āotherā in those groups, perhaps because Iām an atheist or because I donāt subscribe to the 12 step work. I have 9 months now and just want a community where I can continue to talk about my addictive tendencies and be supported without constantly being told that because Iām not working the steps itās only a matter of time until I fail. Looking into smart recoveryā¦
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Totally agree. Aa works for some. And if you have no other choice - itās the best free option out there.
I got sober after a 14 year heavy binge drinking career working 1-1 with a life coach.
I didnāt like AA at all. Tried therapy and it was slow and redundant.
Getting sober gave me my potential back and now I coach others through recovery, healing trauma and human optimization.
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I heard my story in Na . I'm now celebrating 35 yrs. I love giving it back to any other fellowship as we are all just striving to be clean and sober
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Max, I don't believe there is such a thing as The Answer. There's no one thing that will work for everyone. There's only Your Answer, or Their Answer.
If there were a pill that made everyone happy, content, and peaceful, wouldn't everyone be taking it? Life isn't that simple. Our minds aren't that simple.
If something isn't working for you, don't blame yourself, just keep seeking.
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