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Went to my first AA meeting tonight

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Originally posted by: jemcam
Originally posted by: shilala
Originally posted by: jemcam
Originally posted by: moshquerade
good luck. is posting that you went one of the "steps" 😛
Click to expand...

No, not at all. I just wanted to rush home and tell ATOT what I did tonight. It wasn't easy walking in that door, but once I did, it was a huge relief.
Click to expand...

I can't remember a word that was said at the first meeting I went to. All I knew was "I found it". I spent 27 years drunk and my record was 8 days without a drink once I knew I needed to quit. I knew I needed to quit after the first 10 or 15 years 🙂
It took a long time and a lot of work, but I'm finally in pretty good shape.
I wish you the best of luck, and if you have any questions at all, give me a holler.
Click to expand...

Thanks Shilala. It's been very difficult to even allow myself to admit anything and like I said, once I made the decision to go and check it out and find a meeting and walk in the door, I knew I was in the right place. Luckily I haven't gotten any DUI's, been arrested or anything else that so many people have been through.
Click to expand...

DUI-check
Second DUI-check
Jail-check
Second trip to jail-check
House, wife and kids gone-check
I did manage to get the house, wife and kids back. They even gave me my driver's license back and took me off of probation.
They say you have to find your bottom. That's the place where you can't imagine living with a drink anymore, and you can't imagine living without one.
They also say you can get off the elevator whenever you want. My next floor was "bullet in the head". I just didn't have the balls to yank the trigger.
You don't have to go through all that. You're lucky to have found AA when you did.
Hang on tight man, it can get a whole hell of a lot worse.

 
Originally posted by: jemcam
Like the title says. Went to my first meeting tonight.

I was inspired to go because I've got a good friend who started AA about 3 months ago and they just celebrated 60 days sober.

It got me thinking that I haven't been able to go more than 3 days or so without getting drunk in the last 15 years. I can't tell you how many times I've sworn to stop drinking or getting high and a day or two later I'm back at it.

Here's to sobriety!
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:
 
Originally posted by: shilala
Originally posted by: jemcam
Originally posted by: shilala
Originally posted by: jemcam
Originally posted by: moshquerade
good luck. is posting that you went one of the "steps" 😛
Click to expand...

No, not at all. I just wanted to rush home and tell ATOT what I did tonight. It wasn't easy walking in that door, but once I did, it was a huge relief.
Click to expand...

I can't remember a word that was said at the first meeting I went to. All I knew was "I found it". I spent 27 years drunk and my record was 8 days without a drink once I knew I needed to quit. I knew I needed to quit after the first 10 or 15 years 🙂
It took a long time and a lot of work, but I'm finally in pretty good shape.
I wish you the best of luck, and if you have any questions at all, give me a holler.
Click to expand...

Thanks Shilala. It's been very difficult to even allow myself to admit anything and like I said, once I made the decision to go and check it out and find a meeting and walk in the door, I knew I was in the right place. Luckily I haven't gotten any DUI's, been arrested or anything else that so many people have been through.
Click to expand...

DUI-check
Second DUI-check
Jail-check
Second trip to jail-check
House, wife and kids gone-check
I did manage to get the house, wife and kids back. They even gave me my driver's license back and took me off of probation.
They say you have to find your bottom. That's the place where you can't imagine living with a drink anymore, and you can't imagine living without one.
They also say you can get off the elevator whenever you want. My next floor was "bullet in the head". I just didn't have the balls to yank the trigger.
You don't have to go through all that. You're lucky to have found AA when you did.
Hang on tight man, it can get a whole hell of a lot worse.
Click to expand...


I've been able to talk my way out of at least 3 DUI's when I should have gotten one by all rights. I think the fact that I was in the military and knew how to carry myself and use that military bearing with lots of respect towards the officers that kept me out of jail.

I did lose one wife over drinking though. Not a big deal, that was long ago.

I knew I was on the the elevator and definitely would have pulled out the .357 and painted the ceiling red had it not been for my son. I didn't want him to lose his dad to suicide just because he couldn't allow himself to admit he had a problem. He's a great 7 year old boy, and I sure as hell don't want any one else to be his daddy, and I know he doesn't either.

My drinking was very sporadic. Start off with a twelve pack on Friday night thinking it would last all weekend. AFter three beers or so, it's time to smoke a bowl. then nuture that buzz and keep drinking beer because of the cotton mouth. The next morning, there'd be two or three left in the twelve pack so I'd go buy another for Saturday night. That would just make me drink more because I didn't want there to be any leftovers. My ganja supply doesn't last nearly as long as it used to also. Getting high really affects me for several days at work. Loss of concentration/memory and irritability mostly. That's not good. I have a good job in a very large Corporate atmosphere, one of the largest Corporations in the US and my job is very high visibility and I frequently have to do presentations. The weed kept me from doing my best.

I know I can do it. I'm looking at this exactly how I did when I joined the Army and later on when I went into the OCS program, several years after that I went to Kuwat in 1990. I convinced myself and psyched myself up to get ready to take the worst that anyone could throw at me and knew that I'd be fine and I was. In each of those previous circumstances, when it was all said and done I was able to look back and say "Damn, that wasn't as hard as I had thought it could have been", and it wasn't that bad at all. I think it's just a matter of expecting the worse at any time and being able to be prepared for just about anything that can be throw your way.

There's been a lot of alcoholics in my family but not one of them ever went to AA. I'm stopping that family tradition starting tonight.
 
Originally posted by: jemcam
Originally posted by: shilala
Originally posted by: jemcam
Originally posted by: shilala
Originally posted by: jemcam
Originally posted by: moshquerade
good luck. is posting that you went one of the "steps" 😛
Click to expand...

No, not at all. I just wanted to rush home and tell ATOT what I did tonight. It wasn't easy walking in that door, but once I did, it was a huge relief.
Click to expand...

I can't remember a word that was said at the first meeting I went to. All I knew was "I found it". I spent 27 years drunk and my record was 8 days without a drink once I knew I needed to quit. I knew I needed to quit after the first 10 or 15 years 🙂
It took a long time and a lot of work, but I'm finally in pretty good shape.
I wish you the best of luck, and if you have any questions at all, give me a holler.
Click to expand...

Thanks Shilala. It's been very difficult to even allow myself to admit anything and like I said, once I made the decision to go and check it out and find a meeting and walk in the door, I knew I was in the right place. Luckily I haven't gotten any DUI's, been arrested or anything else that so many people have been through.
Click to expand...

DUI-check
Second DUI-check
Jail-check
Second trip to jail-check
House, wife and kids gone-check
I did manage to get the house, wife and kids back. They even gave me my driver's license back and took me off of probation.
They say you have to find your bottom. That's the place where you can't imagine living with a drink anymore, and you can't imagine living without one.
They also say you can get off the elevator whenever you want. My next floor was "bullet in the head". I just didn't have the balls to yank the trigger.
You don't have to go through all that. You're lucky to have found AA when you did.
Hang on tight man, it can get a whole hell of a lot worse.
Click to expand...


There's been a lot of alcoholics in my family but not one of them ever went to AA. I'm stopping that family tradition starting tonight.
Click to expand...

That's the best you can do. If you find it difficult to stop drinking, don't let it bother you. Stick it out.
It's a bitch, but it gets better.

 
I've been to AA. It strikes me as a bunch of co-dependent pansies who have no inner strength. This is not a put down to the OP, but I believe true reform comes from within, or from those around you that care.

If it works for you then great, though. 😀
 
Jemcam, just do it. That is, just don't do it. From what I have heard, your life will be better by a factor of 1000x if you sober up. PM me nightly and let me know of your progress.
 
Good for you.😀

A big old A++ for you also.

No matter what......keep going, we will be here cheering you on.

My Brother quit drinking and I am so glad, he went to jail and it cost him a lot of money so he decided to quit.

:sun:


🙂
 
Originally posted by: SampSon
Jemcam
How old are you now? Do you drink the majority of a 12 pack everynight?
Click to expand...

I'm 42. I usually would go through a case of beer or so per week. Friday and Saturday night I always drank 9 or 10 beers plus a couple of joints. Then, usually the same sometime once or twice during the week. It isn't much to me, but when I started noticing my work product being affected, I knew it was time to get serious.

Besides, I've been to more than one funeral of a friend who killed himself in a car wreck while DUI and have had at least two good friends literally drink themselves to death after many many years of drinking. Their bodies just shut down and their livers were shot. They literally drank in the hospital becasue the Doctors and nurses didn't want to deal with trying to make him go cold turkey so they allowed him to have a cooler full of beer in his hospital room. They also told him that as long as he needed that cooler, he wasn't getting a liver transplant. Both of them chose dying drunk instead of trying to get sober and live.

I've cut way back on my drinking from 5 or 10 years ago when I did drink a 12 pack every night. Having my son made me cut back a lot, but I still just waited until everyone was asleep to go to the basement and plop down in front of the bigscreen with a couple of beers and joint 3 or 4 nights a week.
 
Just don't get lung cancer from all those "ex-addicts" huffing and puffing on their cigarettes at the meetings.
 
Originally posted by: Crazyfool
Just don't get lung cancer from all those "ex-addicts" huffing and puffing on their cigarettes at the meetings.
Click to expand...

This was a smoking meeting. I found out tonight where all the non-smoking meetings are now. I had to rip off my clothes and jump in the shower as soon as I got home to get that smell off of me.
 
Originally posted by: jemcam
Originally posted by: SampSon
Jemcam
How old are you now? Do you drink the majority of a 12 pack everynight?
Click to expand...

I'm 42. I usually would go through a case of beer or so per week. Friday and Saturday night I always drank 9 or 10 beers plus a couple of joints. Then, usually the same sometime once or twice during the week. It isn't much to me, but when I started noticing my work product being affected, I knew it was time to get serious.

Besides, I've been to more than one funeral of a friend who killed himself in a car wreck while DUI and have had at least two good friends literally drink themselves to death after many many years of drinking. Their bodies just shut down and their livers were shot. They literally drank in the hospital becasue the Doctors and nurses didn't want to deal with trying to make him go cold turkey so they allowed him to have a cooler full of beer in his hospital room. They also told him that as long as he needed that cooler, he wasn't getting a liver transplant. Both of them chose dying drunk instead of trying to get sober and live.

I've cut way back on my drinking from 5 or 10 years ago when I did drink a 12 pack every night. Having my son made me cut back a lot, but I still just waited until everyone was asleep to go to the basement and plop down in front of the bigscreen with a couple of beers and joint 3 or 4 nights a week.
Click to expand...
I feel like a complete drunk now.

 
Way to go man hang in there. I never went to any meeting but gave up drinking about four years ago. It wasn't that I got in trouble everytime I drank but everytime I was in trouble I had been drinking. That and finding out I was going to be a Daddy changed the whole ball game for me. Good Luck and stay strong....ONE DAY AT A TIME!!!!
 
It's too bad that AA is just another "Love Jesus" program in disguise, otherwise it would be a very worthwhile program.

They do good things. But with the wrong "twist." Jesus/God does NOT help you to stop drinking.

YOU help YOU to stop drinking. Period. End of story.

IMO, it's just replacing one brainwashing drug with another, equally potent brainwashing drug.

I've read the AA Bible/Manual or whatever they call it. It's another Jesus brainwashing in disguise.

Congrats on your honest effort to kick the bottle to the curb. 🙂 I wish you the best of luck.
 
Originally posted by: MichaelD
It's too bad that AA is just another "Love Jesus" program in disguise, otherwise it would be a very worthwhile program.

They do good things. But with the wrong "twist." Jesus/God does NOT help you to stop drinking.
Click to expand...

I'm sure you could find an agnostic-friendly AA group if you tried. Not thinkin ATHEIST-friendly, but I've heard of some groups that just focus on "general" spirituality, however that applies - zen buddhism, taoism, whatever.

In any case, the whole topic always seems weird to me. Alcohol is nice and all, don't mind a buzz now and then (and 2 or 3 strong beers will do it), but I haven't had one in a month for no particular reason more than I just haven't felt like it. I mean, it's just not THAT exciting.
 
Originally posted by: dderidex
Originally posted by: MichaelD
It's too bad that AA is just another "Love Jesus" program in disguise, otherwise it would be a very worthwhile program.

They do good things. But with the wrong "twist." Jesus/God does NOT help you to stop drinking.
Click to expand...

I'm sure you could find an agnostic-friendly AA group if you tried. Not thinkin ATHEIST-friendly, but I've heard of some groups that just focus on "general" spirituality, however that applies - zen buddhism, taoism, whatever.

In any case, the whole topic always seems weird to me. Alcohol is nice and all, don't mind a buzz now and then (and 2 or 3 strong beers will do it), but I haven't had one in a month for no particular reason more than I just haven't felt like it. I mean, it's just not THAT exciting.
Click to expand...


I'd be interested in finding such a group, just for investigative purposes. I am just fed up w/this whole God thing.

Like to knit? Well, we have a Knitting For Jesus group that meets every Wednesday?

Like to throw Frisbees? Well, we have a Flinging For The Lord group that meets every Friday.

Like to screw? Well, we have a Screwing For The Saviour group that meets on Mondays!

ENOUGH, already. How about a "Group" that meets b/c they need EACH OTHER and not some invisible power that allegedly runs everyone's life? I wish humans as a race would wake the hell up and see for themselves!!

Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus etc could finally live in peace. But then of course, everyone would have to give up their particular God...oh no...can't do that. He/She/It'd be really mad at us! :roll:
 
Originally posted by: MichaelD
It's too bad that AA is just another "Love Jesus" program in disguise, otherwise it would be a very worthwhile program.

They do good things. But with the wrong "twist." Jesus/God does NOT help you to stop drinking.

YOU help YOU to stop drinking. Period. End of story.

IMO, it's just replacing one brainwashing drug with another, equally potent brainwashing drug.

I've read the AA Bible/Manual or whatever they call it. It's another Jesus brainwashing in disguise.

Congrats on your honest effort to kick the bottle to the curb. 🙂 I wish you the best of luck.
Click to expand...

What are you, afraid of Jesus or something? So you read the AA manual and felt that you'd been almost brainwashed by Jesus? Sounds like the problem here is your over-active imagination and irrational paranoia of a 2000-year old dead Jew.

Howbout Buddha, does he hide under your bed at night? 🙂
 
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