Posted by deirdrehbrt on January 30, 2006, at 23:41:31
In reply to Re: Fell off the wagon » deirdrehbrt, posted by AMD on January 30, 2006, at 11:20:21
AMD,
I thought that meetings would not stimulate me intellectually too. I'm not dumb, and was (not to brag, but to illustrate), and engineer, and a member of MENSA. I'm used to intellectual stimulation.
So, I went to some meetings. At some of them, I found I wasn't interested. At others, I found I was. Who have I met in AA? Lawyers, Professors, Grad students, college students, other engineers along with your every-day sort. My sponsor is a housewife. Still, she's smart. She's much smarter than I in one important respect: She knows how to avoid drinking, and that's one thing I desperately need to know.
My favorite meeting is a women's meeting in a university town. I'll admit that it's more stimulating to me than some of the others I attend. People are well spoken, and they can look at their problem with a much larger toolset. Conversations after the meeting are better. Still, I do get alot from the other meetings I attend.
I need to be reminded that this disease nearly killed me. I need to be reminded how easy it is to fall back into old ways when you get complacent or over-conficent or just plain lazy. I need to be reminded of all the things that can happen once you pick up again, or drive in a blackout. In my case, I would have a tendency to overdose when drinking. I NEED to hear these things to keep fresh in my mind why it is that I'm not drinking.
I'm not saying that you have to go to AA or NA or any 12 step program, though I think they can help. There are other alternatives. I personally find distasteful the politics of Rational Recovery, in that they are constantly putting down 12 step programs, but that might be more to your liking. As the name states, they use rational processes to try to stop drinking or drugging. They claim it works and have some figures to back it up. They also claim that you don't need groups. It might work for you.
I only know that I couldn't stop on my own. I tried. I could even go a month or so, but I would ALWAYS go back. It's been almost 5 months now, and my brain is working better than it has since grade school. I can only recommend what worked for me.
Whatever you choose to do, Good luck.
--Dee
poster:deirdrehbrt
thread:604176
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/subs/20051211/msgs/604705.html