Reply #111: I must be the lucky one in a hundred. [View All]

[FloridaJudy]

It's been over five years since I took my last drink or drug. While I have some qualms about the program myself, I doubt I could have done it without a lot of support, particularly in that first year. Yes there are some AA members - I call them "Big Book Thumpers" - who fervently believe that AA is the only way to get and stay sober, but most of us aren't that dogmatic.

Each group also has its own flavor and way of doing things. I wound up going to a lot a mainly GLBT meetings, even though I'm hopelessly straight, because the members were more tolerant of non-standard spiritual paths (I'm a Buddhist myself), didn't insist on the Lord's Prayer, and were okay with others referring to their Higher Power as "She". I also met a lot of Atheists/Agnostics there, some with decades of sobriety.

For some of us it works. For some it doesn't. But I'd encourage anyone with a drinking or drugging problem to give it a try. You might get lucky.