Addiction & Recovery

AA/NA works for many people and that is great. It also does not work for many people, which is okay. It did not work for me. I never got past the ‘higher power’ stuff, didn’t like that relapse was treated as total failure, and it felt too judge-y to me, especially AA (NA tended to be a younger, more easy-going crowd).

What was extremely helpful was listening to people speak at meetings. Even if you don’t follow the program/steps, hearing other alcoholics/addicts share their stories, talk about the challenges of recovery in their daily lives, and share what that stupid, incessant addict voice in their brain keeps telling them and how they manage those unwanted, crafty thoughts… it makes you feel, well … normal, for lack of a better word. A normal person with a powerful, cunning disease that can lay *anyone* low. That you aren’t some worthless piece of garbage, that you aren’t crazy, that others have done and thought the same cruddy things that you have, and worse. And you can see most are good, decent people, from all walks of life. That you aren’t as outcast and uniquely terrible as you thought. That’s powerful shit. Especially when you start to learn to forgive yourself and get some relief from some of the crushing guilt we all feel. Hearing the others speak and seeing parallels to his own life/behaviors may make him realize he does have a problem.