First time poster, been in AA and recovery for many years, had 15 plus years of sobriety/abstinence and now have almost 3 after a bad relapse. I hope this is not offensive, but I go to meetings now primarily to change and grow up in recovery, not simply to "hold on and not drink or use". I found out the hard way that mere abstinence without addressing my character defects honestly, and without change and emotional sobriety, a drink will eventually lurk somewhere as an option in the back. I am trying to get to a place in recovery where life is not so contantly hard or depressing. It comes slowly, and I have to grind it out sometimes, always remembering that I can never take that first drink. Never. Any thoughts on this are appreciated ?
Many of us have experienced what you've described above ... we're the lucky ones that made it back ... some lessons are hard to learn for us 'hard-headed' alkies, LOL ... we FINALLY realized that the AA program was our only chance at life ... period ...
Love ya man and God Bless, Pappy
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'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
Good post, B99. I agree that meetings, and the whole AA program for that matter is about spiritual and personal growth. Without that growth our main tactic to stay sober could described as white knuckling it.
And that is a brutal approach, fraught with failure.
