ok the guy who listed 3 things is right, but the fact that he said jesus christ.. that may work for him but most dopefiends the fact of surrendering to a religion is just not happening. obviously theres gunna be people struggling who are getting high and going to meetings. unless you can find a meeting a block from the projects then your not going to be running into a dope dealer afterwards. no matter what meeting you go too there will be winners and people who just want to be a winner but cant stop usuing(lack of surrender, etc.) meetings are helpful if your willing to go to any lengths to get sober. ^^ . true. but if your not willing to go to anylengths to stay sober regardless if u find a meeting or not u arent staying clean. my advice is go to a meeting, look for the people who are laughing and joking before it starts, and come time get serious once it starts.. sit with those people, they usually will have somthing that u would want and are what i call winners. if u do finally drag your proud ass out of the house to a meeting id recomend sharing that im new to this and cant stay sober on my own. and once its over wait to see how many people talk to you. somebody will, dont just dip out once its over that has done nothing for your sobriety. you HAVE to be honest open minded and willing, and you HAVE to stop trying to run the fucking show, if your an addict or alcoholic, you arent running the show drugs are.
This is stellar advice and I really hope that you read this and meditate/think on it. I understand a hesitation or refusal to seek a relationship with Jesus, and really TC it's the 'end result' that matters. Jesus worked for me and I was a dope fiend too, so if your out of options and open to asking God for help, you will experience what is called in AA as a 'spiritual awakening'. This is the primary purpose of AA and if you go to enough meetings and talk to enough people there I would guess that
most have found sobriety as a result of surrendering to their higher power.
Now the good news if your an athiest or agnostic is that a higher power doesn't have to be God or Jesus. It just has to be something bigger than yourself. For example, "the group of AA" or "mother nature" or "the great spirit in the sky".
For me, practically all the worlds had to allign for me to be able to have lasting sobriety. I am a hardcore addict/alcoholic, I would lie to your face telling you I hadnt drank with alcohol reaking on my breath. I was out of control. Like lordnate said, the drugs had me controlled but were able to give me the illusion that I was in control. Once I sobered up and looked back it was plain to see that I was a slave. I may have started out using the drugs/alcohol but in the end they were using me. Now what I mean when I say 'all the planets had alligned' is this:
Basically I had to have so many POWERFUL reasons not to drink/use that to do so it light of all that would be voluntary suicide. I would give up graduating from college, I would give up my future career as a probation officer, I would loose my relationship with Jesus, I would loose money and my place to live because I would be homeless or sent to the salvation army, I would disapoint my family, friends, AA family, and most importantly myself. I would compromise my future and miss out on the love of my life and future spouse, my kids, my house, my dogs, my life. I would trade all of that in for "1 more time", which we all know, is never just 1 more time. I would also loose my health and my abisility to exercise regularly, eat well, and take vitamins consistently. I would loose my peace of mind and purpose in life, and most of all my HOPE. I would loose my confidence and sense of pride from FINALLY conquering these drugs/alcohol, after hundreds of failed attempts.
What I'm trying to say is, for this addict, it took so so so so so much support, consequences, and conditions to be set in place/motion to keep me sober. For the first 60 days I grieved for my drugs/drink. I felt like I was a victim and all this was in vain. Then between 60-90 days sober something happened. I felt a new sense of joy, peace, and purpose in life. I felt that I could reach other addicts like myself both in my career as a probation officer, and in AA. I became so motivated to realize these dreams that I went back to college, see a psychiatrist, and do everything I can 1 day at a time to escape the trap of drugs and alcohol. The bottom line is this, life is TRULY BETTER in sobriety and it keeps getting better. Being able to manage and organize your life, develop real relationships with people, have money and new stuff, feelinging healthy and having energy, all these things are just SO MUCH BETTER than being a addict in active addiction.
I use to wonder why I was always tired, depressed, lonely, and suicidal. It was because I was being held captive by drugs and alcohol. As Luke 4:18 says, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed." Surely I was oppressed just like you are TC, and I wasn't able to free myself. I will be praying for you. There is hope.
Welcome to bluelight, even if you've been here for nearly 5 months...
