Dave's World .......occult, LGBT, recovery, etc..: March 2018

I did AA successfully for 6 years.( no one ever hugged me-I guess that's NA).......worked the steps with an Atheist sponsor......it's what I needed to get clean and sober in the beginning......and it helped me a lot. I met a lot of assholes in AA, but even more 'cool' people. Prayers and shit.........sometimes I would join hands with the group..but not speak the prayer.......sometimes I would say 'gods' instead of God, etc ( whatever felt right personally). The important thing for me was to not just run off and leave the group......sometimes the most helpful part of the meeting..is helping clean up and chatting more casually with folks........that helped my sobriety A LOT. I did IOP also.......hated it, but my attitude was shit at that time.....try to make it work for you....it's for your benefit -it's not a punishment. I have no regrets...the addictions and the recovery are part of my 'story'......I do recovery mostly online now- ( modern psychology,the 12 steps, Buddhism, TSB and online support groups are my personal tools) there are so many resources........it's great.......but early recovery required meetings and IOP......for me to get the 'tools' I needed to be able to do things differently and to move away from addictive behaviors and thinking ( Buddhist principles are helpful for this too)..........one of my favorite quotes " treat others with respect...not as a reflection of their character.....but as a reflection of yours".......the bottom line for a lot of recovery programs ..........we have to become better people to recover-some folks use God, some other philosophies, some use yoga, fitness, art, music, etc......... Much luck and success to you.