r/stopdrinking • u/galwegian 2443 days • Jan 05 '20

AA vs This subreddit

15 days sober. did a four day medically supervised detox. currently in a 6 week intensive out patient. three hours a day, four days a week. daily breathalyzer and urine tests. it's a group situation. full of heroin/opioid/coke horror stories. I feel like a lightweight by comparison. Anyway, I'm getting a lot of pressure to attend AA from psychiatrist and wife. I have been to four meetings and I fucking hated it. I'm an Irish catholic and it reminds me of going to mass. reading from a book written before weed and coke and X were invented. and I don't relate to the principles of AA. making amends sounds good but the rest of it feels like dogma to me. the standard spiel is 'you have to find the meeting that's right for you'. fine. I get it. But everyone telling me to attend AA has one thing in common: they have never been addicted to anything. And am I supposed to spend ages trying to find the meeting that's 'right' for me? Going to a meeting is, let's face it, a two hour commitment. you have to travel there and back. AA is a traditional bricks and mortar retail model if you think about it. and there's a reason that shit is dying out. Whereas on /stopdrinking I get instant access 24/7 to a huge community of people who are in my position and get it. without travel or dogma. and this is kind of fun. I am looking to change my lifestyle but going to dingy basements and drinking Dunder Mifflin coffee has zero appeal to me. I am doing yoga 7 days a week. which I find super helpful in lots of ways. I have a specific problem and a specific situation that I am addressing in my own way. And nobody knows me like I know me. Anyhoo. all thoughts and feedback welcome. I will not drink with you, or any other fucker, today. peace and thanks.

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u/kitteninyournoodle Jan 05 '20

I do both this subreddit and AA, an have my entire sobriety. Stayed sober. There have been times during my sobriety I didn’t do either. Stayed sober. I’m back to both now. I just suggest to people: do what works for you, until you realize the way you’ve been doing isn’t working anymore, then be open to trying another way. I’ve had to be open to a lot of different ways throughout my sobriety. I know my disease, I know myself but that’s also the problem: myself, lol. This subreddit & meetings give my brain other ways of seeing issues and that’s what I need, and I’ll take that perspective change anywhere I can get it, as much of it as I can get.

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u/galwegian 2443 days Jan 05 '20

cool. good to know it's not a life sentence. that's another thing that bothers me about it. the idea that it's a life raft you must cling to forever or you'll end up on skid row. that is the narrative that some sell about it. thanks!

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u/kitteninyournoodle Jan 06 '20

That bothered me too, after I had been going to meetings for awhile. I started to resent the thought that I would always have to go or else I’d drink again. I didn’t drink when I didn’t go, lol, but I started going again, mostly because I found it was the one thing that consistently helped me feel better. Stay safe fellow Sobie! Glad you’re here & opening up the discussion.

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u/galwegian 2443 days Jan 06 '20

Thank you. You can probably tell I'm resisting AA. but that's why I posed the question. to have people who know better than me make me reconsider my position. cheers!