Contents
The first impression that I got when I was in the group: — “But how can this even help to stop drinking? Some kind of sect. Something sit in a circle, tell stories to each other and think that it helps them. They also pray, holding hands, as if they believe in God. I concluded that this is not for me. However, an inner voice told me: — “Wait, let’s see, you see, there are people who have not been drinking for 10 years, somehow they succeed”. In this article, I tell from personal experience what kind of sect it is. «Alcoholics Anonymous» And is it even worth going there?
A little bit of backstory
The group generally appeared, as far as I remember, thanks to two alcohol-addicted Americans who talked all night and noticed that their communication passed without drinking alcohol. They were very surprised by this. We decided to create a group in which they met, communicated and remained sober. Sounds very simple, doesn’t it? And I want to ask a question: “Well, could it be so?”
A little about myself
In fact, if everything were so simple, then everyone would have long been teetotalers and for a healthy lifestyle. I myself am a dependent person and have been sober for the fourth year. Three times I was coded, sewn in, buried, which I just did not do to stop this infection, but my attempts to stop drinking were unsuccessful. Probably, you have drawn the image of a drunk drunk? And I’m only 33 years old and you can become an alcoholic even at the age of 13, believe me, I’ve seen such people, it’s not tricky at all, just get off it, then it can become a very serious problem.
About Alcoholics Anonymous
Many people who want to stop drinking are probably wondering if a group will help them «Alcoholics Anonymous». I will answer like this: “Not everyone will help, it all depends on how damaged the psyche of the addicted person is”. For some, it is enough just to communicate with people to stay sober, but such people are rare. When you join the group, you will be given a community badge «AA», they will congratulate you on joining the group, they will put you on a chair, where the same dependent people will sit in a circle and share their experience in maintaining sobriety. The group conducts various trainings, meetings, seminars, lectures, etc. They try to explain to the dependent person: — «why is he drinking?». And also, they will help to find out the cause-and-effect relationships, which is one of the most important points on the way to sobriety. There are people for whom this is really enough not to drink alcohol. As a rule, these are those addicts who suffer from loneliness and lack of communication. There they satiate those needs and stay sober. But I’m not like that! In general, I’m completely crazy. For people like me, there is a special program called briefly: «12 steps». No, this is not advertising, this program is more than a dozen years old, it is publicly available and will definitely help if the addict has even a drop of sanity left. Personally, it took me just a few steps to stay sober to this day. Below I describe each step in my own words, what the addict will need to do.
Steps to stay sober.
- Step 1 – You will need to write a written work, an analysis of your use. This will help the addict to recognize their powerlessness to control alcohol. Any person who abuses alcohol dreams that he can finally pull himself together and drink only on holidays or, for example, on weekends. This is nothing but an illusion and you will only understand it when you take this step. Control is impossible
- Step 2 – Here you will try to develop your sense of faith in God. I did a little bit, usually the first thing that comes to mind when talking about God starts is, on the contrary, distrust. But still, not in vain, probably, a person is born with this feeling, which means he needs it …
- Step 3 – You trusted God with your future and you know that everything that happens in your life is for the best. It is not very easy, but if you succeed, you can forget about depression forever. I get 10 percent.
- Step 4 — I think the most important step is the analysis of your childhood, because the psyche is formed at an early age and remains for the rest of your life. In childhood, for many people, some needs were not saturated, it is very important to know what and how to saturate them in a healthy way.
- Step 5 – After the analysis, you communicate with your mentor or group. They point you to moments from childhood that influenced your psyche and further use.
- Step 6 We learn to live with our mental disorders.
- Step 7 – We again turn to God and ask him to save us from these mental problems.
- Step 8 “We make a list of those people who have been harmed in any way since our use.
- Step 9 We will make amends for this damage. This is done in order to get rid of guilt, it greatly interferes with life.
- Step 10 We learn to solve our problems immediately. We do not go on about our laziness and self-pity.
- Step 11 – Pray, meditate, establish contact with God.
- Step 12 – We help other addicts to work the steps, share our experience.
Conclusion
Every alcoholic wanders in the wilds of his illusions and does not even imagine and does not believe the true reasons for his use. For example, I always thought that I was drinking because: – “I have a small salary, I get tired after work, relax on holidays, relieve stress, and in general I’m not an alcoholic, everyone does it …”. For every addicted person, something is missing in his life, and until he figure out what it is, he will continue to flood this business with alcohol. I don’t want to believe it, but there is no magic pill for addiction, it’s a disease that has no cure and will be for the rest of my life. It is very important to understand this and be honest. I personally believe that this program and this community «Alcoholics Anonymous» the only sane way to learn to live with your disease. Thank you very much for your attention.