Just wanted to say hi to everybody! I don't have a clue what I'm doing so I guess I'll just wing it! I am 45 years old, divorced for four an a half years and live alone in northern Kentucky. I used to be a member of Alcoholics Anonymous but it was'nt quite my thing, if you know what I mean. I wondered if there is any former AA people out there that would like to compare notes! I'm here to learn and also to help anyone that I can. Thank you! Mark.
Hi Mark,
Welcome to the Forum!
A couple lifetimes ago
I was court ordered to attend a number of AA meetings, I can't remember the exact duration but it was about twice a week for six months or something like that. In those years I was very prone to pushing the envelope as far as about everything imaginable, my life revolved around booze, drugs, less than virtuous women and a host of other things that are not conducive to a healthy, practical, mature lifestyle.
I had gotten in some trouble that involved fighting, high speed driving and a couple other things that over consumption of mind altering substances can invite someone to participate in, I was fortunate it did not turn out much worse.
What I found at AA was not to my taste either, I would listen to all the testimonies and to me it was a giant pity party built around this indeterminate god of your choice called "higher power" the particular group I attended was more uh how should I put this, earthy will do for now. It was a group of bikers and biker wannabees, homeless types, barflies, women of ill repute, etc. I had a choice of what type of group I wanted to attend and I chose this one rather than the white collar executives, the churchies, or one of the others as I felt it might be a gas to hear some of the stories, it got old real fast.
It certainly resembled a godless religion (although some did call their higher power God or Christ) that some were playing a certain role in, tough guys, drama queens, comedians with some (overgrown) teen angst thrown in for good measure. I did see that AA was able to curb the self destructive nature of some of these folks who had truly hit rock bottom (that would come for me later) they used their "sponsors" to help them overcome the sometime very severe temptation to that first drink (which led to obliviousness for many of them) and those who worked the system often were able to stay off of booze and drugs and out of trouble "one day at a time."
I can't say I ever bought into it for myself but I did see it work for some while others made it another sort of addiction where bad choices continued but not alcohol or drug fueled I knowof a guy who is the brother of a good friend of mine who has made this group the centerpiece of his life, everything comes second to his participation in AA and the "glory" he perceives he is getting from being a pillar of his chapter but it is a long story and I have probably (once again) ran a bit long on this post!
His Peace to you,
Joe
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Topic: New Guy (Read 4402 times)