Meetings

[CinCee]

My big revelation of the last two days is that going to meetings is not that big of a deal.  I mean, I didn't really have to cross some imaginary threshhold to a different world.  Just went in, signed in, listened, laughed, shared a little, talked a little afterwards, no big deal, really.

[Patrice]

I have gone to my share of 12 step meetings.....I was a member of NA for over a decade....When **** hit the fan in my life, and I got loaded, not ONE of my "so called friends" tried to help me all I heard was "I cant talk to the drug" And of course "I may get loaded if I see you"  **** NA, AA, CA and all of the other A's.....!2 step programs are a cult.......NA people kill with their words.....People in NA are not doctors, tell a person who is clinially depressed to quit taking their meddication because they arent clean.....My friend hung himself because he listened to the "Doctors" of NA.......Another friend of mine listened to the doctors, quit taking his methadone (for pain) and had a massive heart attack......He lived, but he no longer is in NA....People who are addicts are just substituting NA for their addictions...I know, because I wasted many years of my life there.......I had no friends in NA......

Signed NoNaForMe

[groovygirl]

i wish you'd change your user name....that would be a start to feeling better i bet.  we all beat ourselves up over our addiction, and the name you picked for yourself shows how badly you must feel.  

i know what you mean about meetings.  everyone keeps telling me you have to search to find the one that is right for you.  each meeting is different - different people, place etc.  i have yet to find the one for me, but i'll keep looking.  people that i really respect, like hippy, swear by them, so there's got to be something to it.  good luck:)

[hippy]

every body is a big reach,
addicts are addicts, and it takes along time for us to get it together, serenty means peace, and the only way to get peace is to stop fighting, and in order to stop fighting we have
to surrender,

recovery and relapse chapter 7 na basic text
good reading
when going to meetings  ,thr biggest problem for me was
getting past all the presonalities.
once we do we open the door for recovery through unity.
it really hard to make it on our own.

give peace a chance
gine the program a chance.
it took me 8 years before i gave it a chance.
during those 8 years i destroyed 2 marriages
10 jobs,
was locked up 50 times
then at the end of the road i was ready to surrender,
at the age of 24.
then i put my differences  aside. because i had no where else to go, expept jail or suicide.

at that point my mind opened a little bit

but i still did not want to be threre

but i stayed and got better in spite of my pride

[DIRTBAG]

I hate meetings, because everyone pretends like they got it together and nobody talks about relapse its stupid and I'm never clean long enough to make meetings work,it is torture going there and acting like my addiction is under control.  stupid

[hippy]

i have no problem with aa, i have many many freinds in aa, like i said my father has 37 years  sobriety in aa.
but here on the east coast , they throw addicts out of the aa
meetings for talking about drugs. that is just the way it is here.
as far as the na meetings here they are very very good and there has been a explosion of na recovery in the philly area,
15 yeras ago ther was 10 meetings , now there is about
5000 meetings.
i think people should just commit to where ever they decide to go
get a home group and a sponser and get involved in the program they join. because that is hoew it works , the more ya put into it
the more ya get out.and go the extra mile .

years ago i had to play for the aa basketball team, because the
na team had a bunch of people who were useing.
we one the championship that year.

i myself must have made 90 and 90  half a dozen times in aa
but i never got clean in aa because i was a addict and i used to lie to fit in, so my recovery was based on a lie.

i still go to hear my father and few close freinds of mine in aa
speake,

peace

[hellbent]

Congrats on getting to a meeting. They and the program itself are saving my ass. I couldn't stand going at first. It was horrible on my ego. I was coming back after many years out and I still knew many people there. I was in pretty hopeless shape then however, and I also heard something that really stuck with me, "you can't save face and your ass at the same time". Ego and fear of what people thought of me just couldn't be a consideration if I wanted to live. As it turned out, it was all a mind **** anyway: just about everyone was truly compassionate.

But, you signed in at at meeting? That's seems a little strange. Not exactly anonymous.

Hippy, if I were to hear about anyone in AA talking about excluding addicts, and I never have, I'd point them to the pamphlet "problems other than alcohol", written by Bill W, where he expressly says that anyone with an alcohol problem at any point in their life (and he used the example of a guy with 10 years on H who never drank during that period), was welcome. If that didn't do it, I'd have to get in their face and tell them that alcohol is  - a  - ******* -  DRUG! - but like I said, nobody in my experience has ever mentioned it. Most alkies have other problems too these days.

I get emotional on this one because, for me, AA has very strong sobriety and I need it. I am not sure that I would have stayed clean going to NA meetings, at least here in No. California.

[hippy]

good to see ya went to a meeting, i hope you can get to an na meeting , i don't know what kind of meeting you went to ,
sometimes if an addict go's to an aa meeting and mentions drugs they , sometime really get in you ass and make you feel like never going to another meeting  agian. i hope you don't have to go through that, tho speaking with my father , who is a aa member  37 years sober , he say's all most all the people there are addicts, they just don't mention  drugs.
it is really all about recovery any way, and the up and downs
of living a clean way of life and how to work the steps
surrender and acceptance and such.
well i hope the sister thing is going well,
keep posting, always good to see you post

peace !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!michael

[saverio]

That's great. I have signed up for a program that meets 3x a week, but have not started yet due to all of the w/d symptoms. Monday will be my first day and am not sure what to expect, This is my first go at all of this.