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going to AA tonight

mrflowers00

mrflowers00

Ex-Bluelighter
Joined
May 23, 2010
Messages
3,693
Location
santa rosa, CA
i wanna go to AA and get a sponsor and work the steps but i'm not ready to quit using so i figure i'll just go to meetings untill i'm ready to put the drugs away
 
i've gone to a few meetings lately and i just can't relate to the people i've heard talking and i've been out for so long i don't know where the good meetings are
 
Well what do you think you're missing from it? Is there something that you dont think you're allowing yourself to get out of these meetings? The point is just to know that you aren't the only person who struggles, not that you struggle for the same reasons, and then it's the steps that they give you and how you work through them. But hey, AA isn't for anybody.
 
hey thats cool man, get phone numbers, so when you feel like drinking you can call someone. grab a big book, and a daily meditation book. stick with it man, and someday you might be able to help someone else work the steps.
 
sometimes that helps too. just go until you hear something that really clicks with you and makes you want to stop. a lot of people stop that way. keep trying...
 
i don't know if it's me or if meetings have changed around here in the years i've been out but i just can't relate in AA cause i don't like to drink anymore so it's not a problem for me and i can't relate in NA cause 90% of them were on meth which i hated and would never have a problem with because of that i wish there was like an opiate anonymous meeting i've herd that like a 3 to 4 hour drive a way there is a heroin anonymous meeting but thats out of the question cause i'm poor and don't have a car
 
hey, sounds like your going thru a hard time mr.flower. know that your not the only one man, i was having a really hard time back afew months ago.. i was homeless,sleeping in homeless shelters.hell my family didn't want anything to do with me. i was to the point of giving up hope.. i had nothing to live for and nothing to lose. so I started to go to meetings, I have always heard people talk about how they were able to overcome an obstacle without having to drink and drug. so one night at a meeting i shared, i told the group that i can't go on with life anymore. i told them how bad it hurt to deal with 'real life' sober. after i shared people started to welcome me, and for once i felt like i was apart of something.
they started to share about when they were at 'rock bottom', and how they were in somewhat the same position. After the meeting people came up to me and welcomed me and gave me their phone number, and told me to call them when ever i felt like getting high. some of them hung out with me after the meeting and listened to me tell them what's all been going on in my life. it felt good to get some of that shit off my chest.
i don't drink anymore because of what i was taught to do thru the 12 steps. i have someone in my life that's not only my best friend but my sponsor.
building up some courage and sharing that night at that meeting kept me from killing myself that night.
tell on your addiction, pick up that 24 hour keytag and chip.
check out this: www.nachatroom.org/
there's people in there around the clock anytime of the day, no matter what time it is if you feel like using share about it! they even hold meetings there several times a day.

I wish you the best man, know that you don't have to live like this anymore. That there is hope out there for people like you and I. I have faith in you man. If you ever want to talk about anything shoot me a PM! <3
 
mrflowers00 said:
i wanna go to AA and get a sponsor and work the steps but i'm not ready to quit using so i figure i'll just go to meetings untill i'm ready to put the drugs away
Click to expand...

This closely parallels my stance toward AA/NA. In contrast, I don't bother going to meetings if I'm actively using, mostly b/c I rarely get anything out of them whilst nodding. That's just me; you may be different, and in either our cases one of us could hear something while we're high which resonates and helps us along the way. Personally, I prefer not to invest the time. When I'm abstaining, however, I go to stay centered and focused on my goal of continued abstinence. This is very helpful for me in early sobriety. I cannot see myself ever working the steps, or adapting my beliefs/ethics to suit the philosophy of the program, so I go for the camaraderie and to not lose perspective. A lot of people say it needs to be all or nothing, but I prefer shades of color as opposed to black and white, ya know?

mrflowers00 said:
i don't know if it's me or if meetings have changed around here in the years i've been out but i just can't relate in AA cause i don't like to drink anymore so it's not a problem for me and i can't relate in NA cause 90% of them were on meth which i hated and would never have a problem with because of that i wish there was like an opiate anonymous meeting i've herd that like a 3 to 4 hour drive a way there is a heroin anonymous meeting but thats out of the question cause i'm poor and don't have a car
Click to expand...

I've problems w/ most substances (including alcohol), so it is easy for me to max identify w/ all formats of 12 step. Yet for others, I'm told it is as easy as plugging in your DOC mentally, b/c the underlying commentary and strategies are the same. The 12 Steps can be, and are, applied to anything, and no matter the substance/object, the lessons are the same.... though it may be harder to relate at an AA meeting for you due to the mentality of the alcoholic members being distinct from that of opiate addict members. Nonetheless, if you give it a shot I'm sure you will note significant similarities between alcoholic suffering, redemption, and hope and that thereof your own.

Best of luck, and let us know what's up, yeah?
 
Sometimes if someone is not talking about your drug of choice. Just change 'meth' for whatever it is that you're having a problem with. it works for some, not all.
 
Part of AA's process is a belief in God which I find rather indoctinating, especially given its Judeochristian slant. Although here's a question: is recovery possible without feeling like you're putting yourself into the hands of a higher power?
 
Foreigner said:
Part of AA's process is a belief in God which I find rather indoctinating, especially given its Judeochristian slant. Although here's a question: is recovery possible without feeling like you're putting yourself into the hands of a higher power?
Click to expand...

I felt that way myself. When I walked into the rooms I heard the word god & went for another 3 years of dedicated research. When I came back I understood it is a higher power of your own understanding. It means exactly that. I don't believe in a god in the traditional sense at all. My higher power is simplified. Something created the universe. I don't know what it is nor do I care to know. I simply know that there is a more powerful force than me in the universe. That force is my higher power.

As for recovery without a higher power? It is possible but long term abstinence is more likely. Sustained recovery involved having your ego smashed to pieces & then rebuilding yourself during the journey of recovery. The important part for me was acknowledging that I was not god but simply a human being. Accepting the fact that I was not god & there was a more powerful force in the universe was the key to my recovery.

I have not done the 4th step as a honest & complete moral & financial inventory will bring up a lot of bad memories I am not prepared to deal with but I do the first 3 regularly & have almost 5 years of recovery. I don't attend meetings often these days but I speak to my sponsor regularly as well. I am an apathetic agnostic I suppose because I really don't concern myself with things I can't comprehend.
 
mrflowers00 said:
i've never been able to believe in a higher power like a god or anything like that
Click to expand...

Here's my perspective on AA/NA (I wrote this in another thread but I think it's worth repeating here).

Open-mindedness seems to me a core spiritual principle of the
program. It is the heart of Step Two. Without it I cannot change. The
program is pragmatic and experiential: I listen to others share their
experience, then "act as if" and "keep what works." But to be open, I must
believe there is something to be open to; that's what I mean by
spirituality. At the very least, I need openness to my own future. In other
words, I believe recovery depends on a sense that a perspective other than
my own exists, either "Good Orderly Direction," or the combined wisdom of
those in the Fellowship, or the accumulated experience of the program. I
needed that the day I walked into my first meeting. I still need it now. I
don't expect to outgrow it.



If I am to recover, I must be honest about what works for me, open to other
things working, and willing to give those things a try - or at least to let
them be. I cannot continue to grow in recovery when theory replaces
experience, stubbornness replaces strength, and control replaces hope.

In other words, go to meetings with an open mind and a willingness to believe that there is another way to live. The fellowship
is really just a place where people share their experience, strength and hope--simple as that. So keep it simple.
 
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