who doesn't use AA/NA?

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Did anyone here get sober not through a 12 step program? I have been to many meetings and even had a sponsor and worked the steps and I prefer something more secular and AA is not for me. Has anyone else had success staying clean not through AA and can you share your story?
 
I never went to any meetings and did it on my own. I started off each morning with a journal entry of what I intended to do and tried my hardest to stick to it. If you click on my name, you will find the first post that I made and I stuck to it.

NA is not for everyone so don't feel forced into going. I do believe taking it one day at a time though.

Good luck.
 
i have never attended AA (though i do see its a great help for some people). Do a search for my old posts for 'my' story.
 
I think Magpie is on to something. It's been almost a week since I took my last narcotics other then Suboxone, and I find that posting on here, as well as journaling is helping me quite a bit. I also decided to put a pen to my life story (not that anyone but me will ever see it). I find writing my life story so far is helping me to understand and uncover some emotional distress that may or may not have been fueling my addiction. It is hard because as I write I sometimes realize things were different then I thought and I begin to harbor some resentment against frienRAB and family for things that happend long ago, as I don't feel like it would be right to confrot people on most of my issues. But as far as alternitives to NA/counciling, I found writing to be a powerful emotional channel for my recovery as boring as Im sure the 300 pages Ive written so far would be to anyone who isn't me. I think Im just an average American guy. EVERYONE in recovery NEERAB some sort of support other then medication for a successful return to the world of the living.
 
:wave:

I didn't go the AA/NA route - not because I wanted something more secular or anything - but because I was too humiliated to face people. I did it on my own without telling a soul (probably not the best way to go about it though - - - support people can be lifesavers).

To me, it was all a matter of wanting to stop, wanting my freedom back, breaking the chains of slavery to a stupid pill. I really truly believe if someone honestly wants to stop, they can stop, simply because it repulses them to think about continuing to use. I had hit that point where I just couldn't stand myself anymore.

That is not to say it's easy, because it's not! It's painful & miserable & achingly lonely (at least the way I chose to do it) but it can be done.

Life feels a lot different now, but at least I can actually "feel" it instead of walking around in a cocoon. At first all the sensations were anxiety provoking, but now I love the exhiliration of really FEELING - whether it be good or bad - because it proves I'm alive and really living. :bouncing:


I don't know if any of that helped, but I hope so.

~ Good Luck! ~
 
Yes, I have been sober for 4 years.

I have been through the treatment process, halfway house and A.A. & N. A. Meetings for the first three months of my sobriety.

I have not been to a Meeting since then.

It is possible to maintain sobriety and live a healthy life without meetings.

It took a lot of tears for me. But I made it here. :)
 
I just signed up here about 15 minutes ago, and after reading the "sticky posts," I'm a little unsure about what's allowed when it comes to talking about twelve step programs. Hmm.

Anyway. I went to a treatment center at the end of last year, where of course, twelve step meetings were a daily event for three months. I went to AA for a month of my outpatient requirements, and then switched to NA... I went to about four meetings a week from January to April. I had a great sponsor and a big support network, but I eventually got really tired of the program and a lot of the people in it. My whole interest in sobriety was dwindling because I just didn't hear the "message" that people tell you to listen for. NA seemed to be just a social event for me. I'm definitely not trying to belittle the positivity that many people get from NA... it just wasn't right for me.

April of this year, I was totally discouraged about my recovery. I ended up using my drug of choice a few days before breaking things off with my sponsor. That being said, April 14 is my new sobriety date... I haven't used in a little over seven months.

I think one of my big problems with NA was following strict spiritual direction. I'm a spiritual person, but I found twelve step programs to stress the "God concept" a little too much for my liking. Within my support group, I felt like people were forcing it on me. I've stayed sober by finding new and positive activities I enjoy. I keep in touch with spirituality, but by my own methoRAB and rules. I see a therapist and keep a daily journal/sketcrabroadook to balance out stress. I make sure to keep family and frienRAB a high priority.

For me, it was a lot about finding alternative things to do, because using drugs consumed everything in my life for so long. That's all I did... I had no frienRAB, no hobbies, I wasn't working or going to school. Now, waking up is like, "Today, instead of doing drugs, I'm going to..." what have you.

That's how I've stayed clean. Hope my story will help a little. :D
 
i've been addicted to many different drugs and medications during the years and never once went to AA, NA. but i went into rehab twice, and had the support of family and frienRAB. also I was ready to quit so that determination helped. i am a loner and dont join groups for anything. but still got it done! right now I'm not addicted to anything and it feels great.
 
I answered your other post too. Seven years ago, I was unhappy in AA and looked around for something else. Rational Recovery helped me immediately end my addiction for free. Learning "addictive voice recognition technique" can be very empowering!

You can do this on your own without meetings or group support. For me, the group stuff made my feelings about drinking/drugging worse. I get that some people really love AA and I'm not trying to talk anyone out of it. Just sharing what happened to me.

Since quitting, I've talked to a lot of people who just gave up their addictions on their own. I think that treatment centers make it out to be harder than it has to be.
 
Hey!

I did not go thru anything like that.. I guessed I took the easy way out and kept this nasty thing to myself. I can't imagine having to face a group and talk about it.. I am so ashamed by it.

I commend the people who have! For me... I have been pill free for 32 days with nothing but this site as help... I know 32 days in not very long but I consider it a success! I am no idiot though and understand that relapse can happen... but I am going to just take one day at a time and go from there.

I hope you are doing well!!! You have been in my thoughts!
~Secrets
 
I commenced my recovery by attending 3 different rehabs over 18 months (all of which helped me in different ways) & I attended AA/NA meetings during that time & for a further 3 years or so after I completed rehab.

However, I continued to relapse every 6 months or so. I found the 12-Step framework to be very restrictive & confining in many respects. Also, I found myself conforming to a self-fulfilled prophecy when I would relapse because I felt guilty for not doing the things my sponsor told me that I should do. I was told by my sponsor that if I didn't do the things he told me to do, then I would drink or use again because I "wasn't ready" to be sober. So I would end up drinking again because I believed what I was told by my sponsor & furthermore it was even suggested to me that I should drink again in order to bring myself to my knees in order to "be ready". One friend of mine who was in AA is now dead because he followed this advice.

One gloomy Deceraber evening I sat in my kitchen having just bought a twelve pack of beers because I was struggling to complete my Step 4 & I was buying-in again, with a considerable amount of self-loathing, to my lack of ability to complete 'The Program'. I opened a can of beer, brought the opened can to my nose to smell the scent of the beer & thought to myself, "Oh well, here we go again - let’s get the job done!" However, I found myself placing the can back down on the kitchen table in front of me & pausing for a moment. Then a voice came into my head & it said to me, "Do you really want to throw away 7 and a half months worth of sobriety?" I realised that I did not want to do that! So, I emptied the can down the kitchen sink, grabbed the other beers & put them into my rucksack (I didn't want to keep them in my apartment) & headed out for a walk throwing the booze into a nearby river along the way.

Habit found me in an AA meeting an hour or so later but I left before the meeting finished & that was the last time I attended a 12 Step Fellowship meeting. I have not had a drink for some 31 months now, although I do not have the same fixation on my sober/clean time today as I used to when I was in AA.

I took some voluntary work because I was not working and had a lot of spare time on my hanRAB (boredom was a big trigger for me) & I created a network of support though frienRAB I volunteered with, along with some clean & sober frienRAB I'd stayed in touch with from rehab. I got some therapy for an hour every 2 weeks and I set about putting into practice all of the tools of recovery that I had learnt at rehab. I have a strong bond & close relationship with my family & that also helped.

I found new hobbies and interests & began to celebrate the fact that I could apply my clean & sober thinking to doing enjoyable stuff, learning new things & helping others via my voluntary job & erabarked on a genuine journey of self re-discovery! Like others have posted here, I have learnt to feel my emotions now I am clean & sober & whilst this can be a rollercoaster ride at times I do feel alive & in some way feel privileged to be able to feel my emotions without needing to pick up a drink -12 Step fellowships do not have a monopoly on gratitude!

I hold no grudge towarRAB 12 Step fellowships and I just accept that they did not work for me. I have recently moved to a new country to start a new job as a drug & alcohol support worker having studied to do this work alongside my voluntary job.

In the job I am now doing, I present those recovering from addiction with choices & hope & encourage them to find an approach to recovery that they can feel is right for them. If that turns out to be a 12 Step Fellowship, then so be it. Everyone is free to choose for themselves - there is not only one way to recover! I hope that my story has given you some encouragement & reassurance that you can indeed have recovery without AA. There are alternative networks of support & other outward and inward focuses of your time and energy!

I wish you all the very best in your on-going recovery because there really is nothing to fear but fear itself!
 
Please share information in your own worRAB. Please do not direct merabers to do searches outside of HealtrabroadoarRAB. Merabers come here for support and advice, not to be told to go elsewhere to find answers.
 
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