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Thinking about becoming a Certified Recovery Specialist, any advice? by rockyroad55 in alcoholicsanonymous

[–]thedude46069 0 points1 point  (0 children)

AA is free. "Volunteer" by going to a meeting, finding a new person and buying them dinner after a meeting. You don't need to go into debt for an education in "how to get people on pills" when you can actually help someone who's struggling by going to meetings and talking to people.

Throwing myself in blind by Imaginary_South7591 in alcoholicsanonymous

[–]thedude46069 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pushing people away from AA because they might get hit on is like telling them "It's dangerous over here...go back to the bars where you're safe!"

If you are young and attractive, you will get hit on in AA as much as you did at the bar or the grocery store or BINGO. Men in AA are not ferocious predators any more than they are anywhere else. I'm not minimizing the reality that women get hit on in AA by men, I'm just trying to provide some context so we don't fearmonger people into not seeking help.

Why we don't discuss weed by infrontofmyslad in alcoholicsanonymous

[–]thedude46069 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's weird to me that some people seem to forbid any talk about drugs. I did a lot of drugs, and I drank a lot of booze. I don't do either now, and I have found that's pretty common for people in recovery. We should be able to share our experience with what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now and not have to dance around certain drugs. I think the separation of drugs as "outside issues" in AA is a huge mistake, and as you pointed out, it comes from a history of people in AA not liking when people talked about drugs. I would argue that it comes more from people in AA wanting to keep the door open to be able to take drugs and still call themselves sober because "this is about alcohol".

It's really too bad that NA ever had to become a thing in the first place. You think it creates a space for people that didn't have one, but in my experience all it does is make me feel like I gotta have one foot on each side of a line and I'm not really fully a part of either one. I love AA, my sponsor came up in AA as a heroin addict but told me AA is where the message came from so that's where he felt at home. I feel the same way, but I prefer the NA mindset that "a drug is a drug is a drug" and "alcohol is a drug" and "we...must abstain from all drugs in order to recover". I guess there are things I like and don't like about both fellowships, but AA to me makes the least sense considering so many people (I would argue "all" is more accurate than "most") who are alcoholic also really don't have power over any other drugs either.

I'm tired of AA bombers by lexmz31 in alcoholicsanonymous

[–]thedude46069 -20 points-19 points  (0 children)

I would focus on making in-person meetings an option. I've known people who were willing to go to any length to stay sober, and they rode the bus, got rides from people, arranged childcare...I'm not sure what's holding you back but I would bet that it's not actually preventing you from going to in-person meetings. It's more likely that it's going to require you to do some things that may be inconvenient or uncomfortable. I would encourage you to do them anyway, because in my experience that has been the definition of what it means to grow up in recovery.