|
|
JanL–42, Raleigh, NC
Online Meeting Facilitator, SMART Recovery®
OnLine
Former maladaptive behavior: alcohol
Sober: one year and counting
I
got here when I got a wicked bad DWI and the attorney I hired told me
I had better start going to AA meetings as fast as possible before I
went to court. I had been to a couple of AA meetings and they just
made my drinking worse. The meetings were nothing about how to quit
drinking and all about the miracle of being born again, that if you
just believed enough, God would do all the work of quitting for you.
I was horrified. I'm pretty sure Billy Graham himself would have been
cringing. I was deeply depressed and thinking there was no help for
me.
In desperation, I googled alternatives to AA online and
found this reference to SMART Recovery® and tracked down the
site. Yay.
At the first couple of meetings, I started
learning about simple tools like the CBA and ABC. They can take time
to master, but just in the first week, I began seeing daily problems
and being aware that maybe one of those tools would help me address
concerns when I could think clearly.
If you are ready to do
the work, and that's a very big IF, SMART RECOVERY® tools
begin to work on day one. You do not have to come for weeks before
you see progress. You start thinking SMART Recovery® thoughts
by the end of week one. Folks here encouragedme through those first
really hard days and by day 30, I didn’t lean on the daily rah
rahs anymore from others. Now I was feeling good for myself and
continuing to apply SMART Recovery® tools to more subtle aspects
of my life.
In addition to the tools, the support here has
continued to be invaluable to me. SMART RECOVERY® is about
support and nurturing rather than judgment and submission. One
special benefit of SMART RECOVERY® Online is great diversity of
culture, community, race, gender, and sexual orientation. We
have all kinds here, from homeless to family money, members from
Australia and Malaysia to North Carolina and British Columbia. I
myself am bisexual and involved in polyamorous relationships. At
SMART RECOVERY® Online, I can be open about all aspects of my
life without fear of judgment.
This week I am celebrating one
year with SMART Recovery®. My DWI a year ago was ugly bad.
Numerous psych "experts" would insist that I could not
possibly have quit drinking cold turkey and turned my life around
given the degree of my drinking a year ago with just my own
willpower, getting away from a nasty relationship, leaning on the
love of good friends, and using every day the SMART Recovery®
tools. Changing old habits is hard work and you've got to want to
change how you think and stop thinking destructive old thoughts. When
you're ready, SMART Recovery® will be ready too.
|
