Interested in making friends

[Elaine53]

Hello! I am new to this but have been in recovery for 13 years. I live in the North of England. I would love to hear from anyone about their experience, strength and hope.

[bluidkiti]

Elaine! I am glad you decided to join us. Congratulations on 13 years! Please make yourself at home here and keep coming and sharing with us. One day at a time! Have a great day!

[MajestyJo]

Welcome Elaine, congratulations on your 13 years. Looking forward to sharing with you.

[indyfedtech]

Well I hope not to sound brash but I have been going to meeting in several parts of the US and have found that everyone (almost everyone ) has a certain way of speaking in meetings. It seems to me that people believe we need to hear about how they drank,how that lead them to find it was hopeless and they got tired and found help. I did to but it seems that after several years I'm tired of hearing their stories and don't want to go over my drunks over and over again..what I would like to do and hear is their spiritual experience for it tells me and I have found it so that nothing can stop us better than just that.why can't God be talked about more..is it just to easy to say nothing about God because nobody will believe us or or that we don't really hear much from God and we would all set silent for an hour. What does God do for us. What has God told you in convesation(prayer).Are we to just be waiters and see what God does in his time?
Frank

[MajestyJo]

Thank you for sharing, I find a lot of the same things here in Canada. I have heard spiritual speakers, but they seem few and far between. We all know how to use. Tell me what you did to not use and how the program is working for you.

When I am asked to speak, I say, "I am not here to do a 4th and 5th Step, I am just here to qualify to stand up here and tell you my story. Then I tell a few incidents of what happened, how I got to the fellowship, and then for the most part, how the program has worked for me. For most people, you are lucky if you get 10 min. of sharing. For me, it is about 20 minutes, because it is about passing on the words of recovery.

One of the nicest things that happened to me was a woman who asked me to speak for her anniversary. She said, November is a bad month for me, I don't need to hear some guy getting up and standing in front of the room, with his hands in his pockets, rattling his change. I need a spiritual message and when I think of spiritual, I think of you. I volunteered with this woman for 4 years in the local jail doing meetings and one on one with women and young offenders.

A lot of people have a problem with the word God. I try to remember to say Higher Power, so no one is excluded, but I find myself saying, "my God." I always stress that a Higher Power is a God of their understanding and I give them the option of thinking "Good Orderly Direction, a Group of Drunks/Drug addict, depending on the group you are speaking to. I have spoke at AA a lot, but have spoken at CA, and Al-Anon too. I make a point that it is the "God of their understanding." I also stress that I had to build a new relationship with my God.

Cocaine Anonymous says, "Cocaine and any other mind altering substance." I didn't do cocaine but I used a lot of mind altering substances and their basic text is the Big Book of AA. I went to NA too, I knew I was an addict, but a lot of them didn't see me as such because I didn't use street drugs. Even though they say, alcohol is a drug too, they don't like the word Sobriety. Sobriety according to my sponsor was Soundness of Mind. They say, "That words belongs to the OTHER fellowship." That was about 10 years ago, so don't know what is happening in today.

I went to AA for my denial, NA for identification, and to Al-Anon to find myself, because a lot of my issues were childhood based. I remembered the fear at 5 years old, and was told by my mother of my other 'sins' prior to that. For me in today, "Sin means Soul In Need, always looking for something outside of myself to make me feel better, what ever the substance is." Drugs are but a symptom of my disease, the problem is me. In today, I go within instead of looking outside of myself. I pray and ask for help and then listen for the answers.

[janbear]

I have been around the rooms of recovery for over 25 years. Have had some sobriety, at one time 19 years, I relapsed last year and today I have 5 months. I am grateful that my Higher Power who I choose to call God, loves and cares about me and forgives me no matter what. My relationship with God seems forever changing, seems to have a lot to do with my willingness to rely on Him. I am learning to trust Him more. He shows me through my quiet time that people will not always be there but He will. I can depend on Him. He is showing me better ways to take care of myself physically and emotionally. The 12 step program has given me so many tools to live a happy sober life. I just need to pick those tools up and use them on a continual basis. I still feel so undisciplined. That's my experience, strength and hope for now.