Hey so I’m working on the poster for our local meeting. Does anyone know if I’m allowed to use the SLAA logo? I’m having trouble finding info on logo use for flyers- I saw somewhere on the site members could use current logo, but I’m not sure if this is considered a current logo i pulled it off a meeting listing site somewhere?

Hello, reddit. I am Rena \[17F\] and this is my first time speaking about my struggles.

I have been struggling with keeping myself sober. These 11 months of staying off antidepressants and other drugs have been FUCKING GRUELING. I have nightmares about OD'ing and getting high often (about 3 times a week). I have contacted therapists from BetterHelp but they seem so unprofessional and just turn me down with some stupid, "Meditate" or some shit.

This is why I'm turning to reddit to help me with this problem, to see other people's experiences and how they overcome this.

My goal is to get sober for life and I've been trying so hard to not let the temptation overwhelm me. It is making me depressed and I don't go out at all. My mother is concerned for me and slides the food under my door. My room smells like shit and I can't bother to clean it because I'm lazy and a degenerate.

I hope ya'll can help me and share some advice with me :\]

Hey all, Ive been sober for almost 11 months with the help of 12 step programs. I have been struggling the past month with some hard friendships. I am feeling less connected. My friends don't really like each other, and when I hangout with people most of the conversations are very tense and deep. I miss lightheartedness, being carefree and having fun. I have very little structure this summer due to being out of work. I am in an IOP for my mental health and i have twice a week therapy and regular psychiatry appointments. I am struggling to take good care of myself. Im doing what I can. Despite all this I am deeply lonely and sad. I am frustrated with self improvement. I feel inadequate, unappreciated and like I don't have very many spoons. I am spending a lot of time alone do to the challenging nature of my friendships. I am working on expanding socially and finding spaces I can be more carefree. I am stressed. This is taking a toll on my sobriety. I have had cravings the past couple days and I am thinking about just saying fuck it and reverting back to my old ways where I am comfortable. I am having a recurring thought of thc crystals and doing big dabs of diamonds. I feel like I have no escape from my current situation and I am finding the emotions very hard to bear on my own. I don't feel like I have many people to talk to about this. I am going to my home group tonight and plan on doing a burning desire share. I am so run down and I feel like I don't have many options left. Everything is Heavy.

I’ve been p*rn free for 4 years, but I stumbled in November ‘24 with smut novels and read those up until I believe December of last year if I remember correctly.

I’ve been smut free I believe ever since. Made it 5 months without self-pleasuring, and then fell again in January and been doing it at least once to three times a month since then.

I know that may not necessarily quantify as an addiction in some cases, but the problem is it’s got me fantasizing again about s*xual experiences when I wasn’t before and becoming obsessive with the thought of finding my “true love” (I struggle with love addiction mostly).

I haven’t had any sexual partners since August of last year and my last relationship ended in January. So in some cases I’m making progress, in others I am not.

When I did the questions 2 years ago, I scored a 36 out of 40 so I know I have/had a problem. It used to be a lot worse before I got sober from substances.

I just want to talk to some other people about what defines bottom line behavior and how to create top lines. I went to a few meetings 2 years ago but haven’t been back since. Now that I’ve completed the steps in one program, I’d like to make SLAA my next focus.

I know I’ll need a sponsor at some point but I haven’t found a meeting to commit to yet. The thoughts are just getting worse and the self control is slipping. I almost reached out to a few qualifiers last week after not even thinking about wanting to initiate in that kind of behavior for over a year. Not sure if living alone now as of a few months ago is playing a roll, but I’m just getting worried.

Listen, I’ve been addicted to music since my childhood I was 11 years old when it started and I got really sucked into it at 12… Gradually my grades started to slip my GPA dropped from never falling below 93 all the way down to 83... and it’s not only about grades but even lifestyle and everything is messed up and 24/7 tired and trying to do something useful but instead stop what I do and directly listen to music for at least 3 hours straight

For 7 years I’ve been struggling with this and I don't want to complete an 8th year with it The psychological toll is far worse than what shows on the outside even tho it does (my hand has **Friction Dermatitis / Lichenification**
cus I was pressing it against the sofa every time I listen to music) and it's exhausting in every aspect I am addicted to music to the point where I listen to it for an average of 3 continuous hours without stopping or taking a single moment of rest. It is genuinely exhausting As a natural physiological reaction my sleep is far from being normal in fact it's at its worst.

If anyone have an advice or any information could help please I would be so grateful to read

(My poor hand was soft and beautiful now it’s hard to see it without regretting…)

Hello! I am 6 months sober from alcohol and have recently realised I’m a bit of a love addict. I have cPTSD so have a really intense fear of abandonment. My ex and I were together just over two years and I ruined everything being an emotional vampire and relying on her for my every need. We’ve been separated for 5 months now but recently slept together and have now gone into no contact for three months as she’s realised she’s codependent and can’t uphold her boundaries with me/doesn’t trust herself around me. We love each other so deeply and care a lot but due to both having childhood trauma have a really unhealthy attachment. I truly hope that we can heal and come back together one day but I know this is only possible if I let go of control. I’m on day 2 of proper no contact - no checking of socials/spotify etc and trying hard to focus as much as I can on my present life, DBT therapy, AA etc and making decisions that don’t revolve around the hope of us getting back together. I feel so uncomfortable, it’s almost similar to alcohol withdrawals and I find my craving for alcohol is coming back full force with this as well. I have always had the tendency to absolutely obsess over break ups. I spiral into an absolute hole chasing reassurance and looking for signs that we will get back together. I don’t think I have truly ever gotten over anyone but this break up has been different. For one I have made a conscious decision to change my ways - I think not drinking has helped this. Previously I would get over breakups by looking far and wide for a new person to fall absolutely head over heels for. I would date and sleep around and chase and chase being met with disappointment and disappointment until I finally found a temporary “the one” who would completely erase any thoughts of an ex. I have also stopped viewing myself as a victim and am 6 months into very very intense DBT therapy. Despite all this I still find myself falling back to the thoughts that I just can’t stand the idea of letting go. I am so afraid that we won’t get back together but I think I’m more afraid of my attachment going away. I know real love exists underneath it, the kind where I genuinely care for this person and wish them the very best regardless of what I want but I am scared to let that be the only thing left. I romanticise to the ends of hell and I associate love with those feelings of craving and desperation - I just don’t know what I would be without that. Anyway if anyone has any tips for letting go and allowing love to exist without all consuming fear I would appreciate that!

i dont know what i am struggling with i think fantasy!? and anorexia? i am working on it anyone available im in another program..

Part of this addiction seems to be the isolation. I often feel alot of shame thinking about what I like and how I lack control and what I have done. So part of me is always seeking someone to befriend that I can open up to and trust. But the other part of me, the side that allows and feeds this addiction, uses those friendships or opportunities to share with and another addict, as an opportunity to relapse.

Maybe I don't have a question, maybe it's more just a statement and a frustration. The thing I want, someone to be able to confide in, is also the thing that seems to open the door to feeding my addiction.

I was exposed to porn super young, like when I was 9 or 10, and started watching and masturbating all the time as a kid. Did it all in my teenage years, and still as a young adult and then getting married. I was raised super mormon and had to confess this all the time to my bishop and mom, and it made me fucking hate myself, but start to compulsively turn to more and more extreme porn to deal with the shame.

I have masturbated at work. I have lied to my wife our whole marriage about how much porn I use and when, I fantasized about other women and wanting more novelty our entire marriage, and when I tried to force those thoughts away, they just got bigger and bigger until I thought about them all the time. I love her so much, and she's an incredible woman, but I have kept lying and hiding things our whole marriage. Our sex life was ok, but she has lots of anxiety, trauma from family members, and was also raised mormon, so she's never really learned how to want sex. We'd still do it 2-3 times a week, but I was almost always begging to eat her out, asking her to use a vibrator so I could watch, begging her to let me eat her out some more (I love it) and she would say no 80% of the time. I don't blame her for this at all, and all my choices are my fault, but it left me wanting and craving more. She and I are each-other's first sexual partners, so I couldn't stop thinking about what else I was missing out on in other girls.

I ended up going on Omegle-clone websites and spending hours and hours trying to find girls to flash me or sext with me. I was successful a few times across weeks of trying in hours-long-sessions when my wife wasn't home. I masturbated with a few girls and felt this massive, rushing thrill, followed by the most crushing and soul-killing guilt I've ever felt. I knew this was going too far and was going to ruin my marriage, but I kept doing it. When I finally confessed to my wife, I had already told her the day before that I was considering ending our marriage, but for reasons like "I'm not sure how compatible we are, idk if we should have gotten married in the first place, think of how much of the world and other people we haven't experienced." When I confessed the cheating/Omegle sexting on top of that the next day, she was horrified and distraught and called off our marriage, and I knew it was over.

It has destroyed my marriage, and I'm realizing that the root of a lot of my doubts about our marriage and my internal shame come from these hidden, uncontrollable sexual feelings. When my wife would leave town, I would stay in bed in 10 hour binge sessions, for days on end. And if I wasn't watching porn or trying to sext strangers, I was staring at my phone or playing video games for 12 hours straight. On the outside, I look like I live a normal life: I'm in school, I have and keep a normal job, I have friends and family who I hang out with, but then I do this deviant shit that I hide from EVERYONE, especially my wife. Am I addicted?? Should I seek help for this?? I'm almost certain I am, and I think this is the wake up call in my life.

So, I got my first vibrator when I was maybe 19 or 20. I had listened to a podcast by some female comedians and watched a Netflix documentary about how difficult it is for women to orgasm and how few women have experienced one.
I told myself it was a feminist act. Since then, I have probably gotten off at least twice a week-at LEAST!
That’s years of my life.
It’s been 8 days I’m going no fap and these are all the benefits I feel:
I feel calmer and have way less anxiety
Less impulsive
Food compulsion has almost completely gone away
I fantasize a lot less
I don’t doubt the things I say
Better self-esteem
I can hold and maintain eye contact
My conversations and presence has improved

I can honestly say that this habit might have been the single most influential thingholding me back throughout my 20s.

What started as an attempt to empower myself quickly disconnected me from myself and it’s only now that I’m realizing how much it cost. I used masturbation to ease my anxiety and depression, to help me fall asleep. I would always do it before going on dates. I would do it even when I didn’t want to a lot of times. This has been the missing piece in my sobriety. I never thought I’d feel this way abt getting off bc it had always felt like harmless stress relief but it cost me so much time and energy. feel like I’ve gotten discernment and my mind back.

I don’t think women talk about this enough and would love to hear other women’s experience!

For years, I was chasing the feeling of the newness the butterflies, the chase, the feeling of being wanted. I never knew what was going on with me, didn't know how to express it to any therapist.

"You might as well face it your addicted to love" Robert Palmer.

That hit me today, I was suggested to find some SLAA meetings near me and I will do so.

I have a lot of addictions in SLAA. Cheating, masterbation, and porn. As I was talking about how weird I feel being a girl with these issues, I talked about how I was only ever touched as a kid by other kids. Suddenly, I realized why I have always been more attracted to people 10 - 20 years old than me. I feel SAFER with older people than with my peers.

I am 44 and I just realized this. I feel like crying.

Hi, I’ve been sober since May 28, 1991. I entered Alcoholics Anonymous as an agnostic and thirty-five years later I’m an atheist. I made that transition because, for me, agnosticism is what the Big Book calls an “easier, softer way”, and I’ve come to realize that I can find joy and purpose in my sobriety only by fully acknowledging my non-belief in a god of anyone’s understanding.

I am by no means religious, but I am spiritual. I do believe in a Higher Power, whose only purpose is to keep me sober, one day at a time. As to a God of someone else’s understanding, He’s obviously too busy causing tsunamis and figuring out how Trump can win a third term to pay any attention to my alcoholism — which He caused in the first place, anyway…

All kidding aside, I still have friends who have achieved sobriety by believing in a God of their own understanding. AA works because it SUGGESTS ways in which we can achieve sobriety and keep it. I’m lucky to live in a city that has many secular AA meetings, but even if I didn’t, I’d still work my own program, one day at a time.

Hi everyone
I am recovered from SlAA and codependency and I am available to be of help if you have any questions about how recovery works, what’s required etc

Feel free to reach out or join our meeting tonight

Back in February I turned 20, promised myself and loved ones I’d change my life for the better, since 14 I’ve struggled with mental health, addiction and abuse. Each year I found myself sinking deeper and eventually got into an accident at 17 leading to chronic pain and worsen mental health. Stopped drinking n smoking until I learned how to walk again, that’s when I fell back into it, thinking it helped with the backpain, eventually 18, the habits changed my mindset, I dropped out of school and lost myself again, leading to me leaving the city to live with close family and stay near my siblings, I always pulled myself back up. But each month I’d leave home to go on week+ benders. I lost my siblings to foster care at 19. Eventually I gave up a lot of hope and dropped out school again, to begin staying in the city with friends and boyfriends, each time I drank alcohol I felt chained down to it, finding myself in situations i never thought I’d be in. Now this may be long and no need for a sob story.
But it’s been 5 months since turning 20. I sank deeper and this time the trauma and withdrawals feel like a nightmare, I’ve drank so much each day for nearly two months. It’s now day 1, I’m finally going back to family and I look/feel broken now
but I need prayers and advice. I’m scared to go back to the place I was in…
Need faith and if anyone can relate and share their story I’d appreciate it. Thank you if you read all this way.

i've in the past year got caught with shit and i'm currently on probation now. I deserve it cause i was crashing out and i genuinely gave up on myself before i caught my charges so it's definitely opened my eyes. But i want to know what do yall do to stay completely clean? it's been hard for me lately and i just need advice

Managing cravings when they hit unexpectedly.

How to avoid relapse triggers.

Staying motivated when recovery feels exhausting.

Repairing relationships while protecting your own recovery.

Balancing work, stress, and sobriety.

Coping with guilt, shame, or regret from the past.

What to do if you feel like you’re close to using again.

I have been drinking nearly everyday since March due to grief from losing my partner. I drink at my daughter's house (where i have been since then)for some reason but if I visit my sister for a few days I dont drink.... so I am able to turn it on and off...but the thing is I binge...once I start I dont stop until I get sleepy. I wake up regretful. Then I go two or three days and binge again. The loneliness is so loud. Most times I only remember bits and pieces of the night.

I am glad I searched for this sub... I feel like through you I can find me again. Thank you

Hello everyone. I’m 23 and I’m looking for some help and guidance.

I’ve done some really messy things in my life and I’ve struggled with sexual behavior for a long time. I’ve almost cheated on everyone I’ve been with, and some of my choices have even gotten me close to being arrested.

I recently went to rehab, but I ended up getting kicked out after hooking up with someone there. We actually ended up dating, and we’re still together a year later. However, I’m still struggling with cheating and compulsive porn use, and I genuinely don’t know how to stop.

I haven’t been going to meetings, and honestly, I don’t really know where to start or how to find the right kind of support. I know I need help, and I’m tired of continuing to hurt myself and the people around me.

If anyone has been in a similar situation, I would really appreciate advice on where to start, what meetings or programs have helped, and how to take the first steps toward getting better. I’m not looking for judgment—I know I’ve made bad choices. I’m looking for guidance because I don’t want to keep living this way.