When I was given the ultimatum in committing to sobriety or attending a support group, I was filled with absolute dread. Every support group I knew of had dealings with some spiritual connectivity; support through fellowship and prayer. To commit to religious philosophies just to become sober sounded awful to me (and that feeling has not changed), I’m mostly exploring 2022 on Loosid for the possibility of meeting people that don’t need spiritual validation to stay clean. I’m proud of being sober for nearly three years without a support group, but the loneliness and the emptiness remains even though the substance abuse ended. I have very few friends left since the pandemic began, and it is my hope to find some like-minded folk to correspond with. Anyway, I’m not going to say I’m intolerant of other people because of their personal beliefs — I’m just not into worshipping anything beyond the realm of the living. I’ve done everything by a form of immersive therapy, determination, and the desire for a better life. I hope there are some people here with similar journeys.
Everyone has a different path and different ways of coping. Believing in something bigger than me and my alcohol issues is tremendously helpful for me. I respect your beliefs and hope they continue to work for you. This is a great community. Welcome
Thank you, Robin. I think my personal beliefs cause me to alienate myself further, and that’s the difficult part to coping the way I do.
Hi Jonesy, I did my first three years on my own and am now plugged into The Luckiest Club, which does not require any sort of religious belief. In my time exploring and studying different programs I have found that many find relief in some kind of spiritual belief. But I definitely don’t think it’s necessary to stay sober.
Hey man this place works great! But just so you know I'm an atheist who struggles with many addiction problems. I also am iffy about the God crowd, but I went to AA last week and despite the higher power stuff I'm going back. Sober is Sober and everyone has their thing. They welcome anyone. Even a heathen with inverted crosses and 666 all over him.. it was humbling.
I felt exactly like you up until about a year ago. For the first In my life I am now spiritual and am ok with the word God under the pretense that it is just that, A WORD. It was explained to me that I could use the word as a term of convenience. I still struggled connecting it to anything that I could consider god like and I do not bow to any deity. What I chose was the universe, this works for me and it is not religious in the least. Every molecule of my body is a part of the universe, I know it is certainly more powerful than I am and I can seek every day to learn something new about it. For me I absolutely consider this a major player in my sobriety as I need to express gratitude and pray to keep it, I had no clue what I was praying to until I found this higher power.
I make it harder not being open minded.give it all time.keep it simple 
I have the exact same feelings!! Certain AA meetings (the older, more traditional crowd) weren’t for me because of the religious/higher power stuff.
I’m here if you ever need somebody to talk to!
Thank you, I appreciate your support!
Find a way to start your own group.it will help other’s.