Hi, Im susie and i'm a recovering alcoholic. I have been on this journey since Jan. 29 2008. I received my second DUI and was driving in a blackout. Spent 4 days in jail, 90 on tether, and was court ordered to sobriety court. It changed my life!! I started AA due to the judges order. I was scared but felt safe from the get go. I listened but didn't really think i was an alcoholic..I just drank to much. lol Learning about alcoholism has saved my life and my relationships. I wont ramble on but am thirilled I stumbled onto this online AA. Ha, do you think maybe it wasn't an accident?? I attend 2 to 4 meetings a week and love them. My boyfriend stopped drinking the very nite of my accident and attends meetings also. I am so very blessed.!!! So HI and glad to meet you all!!
Hey Susie, Is it not amazing how what seems like a bad situation turns into the best thing that ever happened to you??? There are few things in the world that can change your life like AA can. You are very blessed to have a boyfriend that stopped as well because, as you know, that is a huge problem for starting AAer's.
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"You're in the right place. That's the door right there. Turn around."
Susie, Welcome! Glad you found AA and this site. AA has changed my life also. I'm very grateful. Nice to see your boyfried taken part in the recovery. Alcoholism is a diesase that effects all our relationships. After 18 months in the program my wife started to attend Alanon. She decided she wanted what I had. Go figure! 18 months earlier she kicked me out of the house. AA is a wonderful experience. Please keep coming back and help us stay sober.
Thank you for all the welcomes!!! I love that I have something to add along with my AA meetings to help in recovery. And who knows maybe I will be able to help someone along the way. Bless everyones journey today!!
Hi Susie ! Welcome to AA !! Your share is so positive and your outlook is encouraging. Thanks so much for sharing.
It would be my hope for you that you continue with the meetings , obtain a BB of AA, along with a female sponsor, and begin asap to work the steps. The 12 steps are the program of Alcoholics Anonymous and where I found and continue to find real, lasting, healthy, emotional sobriety on a daily basis.
Who was the judge to judge huh? LOL...alcoholic in spades myself and so blind to it. I related to your learning about alcoholism statement. I even spent time in college making sure I was alcoholic. Didn't trust the 23 question test or anyone else in the meetings plus I wasn't attending AA at the time because it was my wife who had the problem not me. God has a sense of humor and the patience to match. Oh now I get it.
Glad to have you in the family. There is much awesome support here.
Welcome Julie! It's refreshing to hear that your boyfriend is on the same journey with you. I hear all too often about one half of a couple who still either has the monkey and won't admit it, or is unsupportive. Good for YOU BOTH!
Congrats on your time in! I'm not even at 120 days yet, thanks for the inspiration and good example.
Learning about the disease is so crucial and I'm glad you hit upon it Susie. I would add to this thread that I had studied addiction and alcoholism out the wazoo in graduate school. I know the DSM-IV definition of alcoholism like the back of my hand. I was also a therapist on a substance abuse unit when I came into AA. All that knowledge only succeeded in a bunch of rationalizations about why I didn't have a problem...until the point at which I couldn't deny it any more. Non-alcoholics do not drink daily, stumble around, and wreck their cars right? Duh. Just an example of how a "suposedly smart person" could be so deluded with "knowledge." The only real knowledge that matters about alcoholism for me now is what I have learned in AA.
Also, Welcome Susie!!! Great to have you on board!
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Keep coming back. It works if you work it. So work it. You're worth it!
I can add that I have noticed that the people who try to look to hard into alcoholism look right over the problem. At least that is my observation. Thanks again for all who have welcomed me.
I can add that I have noticed that the people who try to look to hard into alcoholism look right over the problem. At least that is my observation. Thanks again for all who have welcomed me.
Well, you sure are a quick learner picking this up so soon into recovery. Analysis Paralysis we call it over here.
One oldtimer told me, 'Nobody's too stupid to get this programme, but some are too clever, and I reckon you're one of them' I started to recover when I got stupid.
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Serenity is Wanting what you have, not having what you want
Always remember non-alcoholic beers are for NON-ALCOHOLICS
You do NOT have to go through all of the pain that some of us did: you can "get it" the first time around. If I had done that, I'd have over twenty-five years of sobriety!
AVRIL, you are so right about Analysis Paralysis and being too clever for the program. In the past I analyzed, intellectualized, and rationalized my way right back to the bottle many times. I am now beaten down to the point where I am teachable.
"But I was so much older then; I'm younger than that now." -- Bob Dylan