w0w, I really don't mean this to sound judgmental, but are you ready to concede now that geographic cures rarely work? I'm not as hardcore about AA as I used to be, but there's a phrase in the Big Book that reads, "Wherever you go, there you are." A new environment is not necessarily going to overcome the mental and emotional problems that led you to use in the first place. Despite the fallout from a toxic divorce (including court ordered group therapy because my ex wife told bald-faced lies to the judge to get a restraining order), a post-marriage relationship that did not end well, and a ruined career, I remain firmly planted here in Orlando.
I really hope you find your bottom soon, and that it isn't prison. I heard a guy in an AA meeting who said that after serving 18 years, he got on a Greyhound bus back to Orlando, spent the night at the Salvation Army, and the first thing he did was go into a downtown bar and get wasted. An extended period of abstinence courtesy of the justice system can well be meaningless, as this example illustrates. I've also known people whose bottoms, sadly, was death. For me, my bottom should have been any number of these: wrecking my marriage, wrecking my finances, wrecking my professional career, wrecking a wonderful post-marriage relationship, the list goes on and on. Instead, it was the doctor giving me bad news about the damage I've done to my health with alcohol and drugs. And it was a good thing, because I was maybe one step above homelessness when that happened. I probably would have ended up with said health problems AND be homeless if I didn't quit when I did. As it is now, I have this lovely pain in my side all day every day to remind me why I cannot drink or use.
I usually mentally roll my eyes when someone spews off a twelve step platitude, but think about this one, "All alcoholics and drug addicts eventually quit. Just depends on whether they're still alive when they do."
