AA survival tips

Welcome to AA, please be advised that if you do not like AA feel free to try any possible solution including stopping the behavior on your own. You can find alternatives to AA by Goggling "AA alternatives". Awareness of your surroundings in and out of AA can insure your safety; consider yourself warned that the courts and mental health community refer people to AA, you may be sitting next to someone who is convicted of a crime or is a mental hospital alumni. Sponsorship in AA is commonly intermingled with volunteer life coaching without the presence of ethical guidelines. Do not date people you just met in AA.

pray that god performs a miracle for you.

How's that working out AA?, with your 3-5% success rate.

FYI - Over 70% of alcohol abusers quit on their own.

half of 'em want you to save 'em the other half want to save you, The thing I used to 'sugest' to newbies was "would you buy a car from the wrecking yard"

Don't fish in polluted waters

go to an alanon meeting and tell them you think you have a drinking problem

stare down & intimidate the chair & keep them from dare asking you any questions or expecting you to speak. Stare down & intimidate the asshole old timer who reprimands you when you don't say hi, I'm an alcoholic & refuse to comply & watch him squirm with indignation but be too much of a punk to say another word because he can see you've had enough & he's ultimately a bully, that you just shut down. Act dumber than the dummy chanting to you & respond with even more inane, absurd & ridiculous words & thoughts, that he just can't come up with a slogan or saying to respond, stump them by being even more stupid & crazy. That's how I got through my last meetings.

Very few in AA read the pamphlets, the leaders need to make a statement from the podium.
I agree that the pamphlets are a waste of time.

Ben said; This would be my preamble

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buMg7cDtlls

God damn it, get me a whiskey

JJ says laughed a drink through my nose. Hey I saw them in concert a million years ago. Used to like this song by Jay ferguson the lead singer http://youtu.be/SEKZJp-x-Dc he also played in spirit
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs7qUw3cuYc

If the person chairing the meeting was a bore,I found an iPod was a useful distraction. An iPad would be better these days as you could read something interesting as well as block out sound with good noise cancelling headphones.
Also having a different mobile phone with the ability to block callers is also a good idea.

Mfc66uk said; If the person chairing the meeting was a bore,I found an iPod was a useful distraction.

JJ says; No doubt. I wish i would have had a smart phone at some of those step or tradition mtgs I went to. Seemed to me the people whp wanted to speak on traditions were the one who were eager to show everybody their great wisdom of the program. And then you have the people who have to share, have to be noticed, trying to act like they know something about traditions. Most people really dont. I dont, I never cared.

What about this AA song by Kenny Chesney? Dont cry folks; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqo0aVgKHRo

Clara says; In our club, the person that signs the slips is the chairperson for the meeting. Every group does it differently.
JJ knows, Exactly Clara. I was the Chairperson in 2001 in a big alano club group in huntington beach Ca. The people who were mandated would walk up to the long table and put their slips in the basket and I would sign them ASAP. Even during the preamble. I didnt care if they wanted to leave. I have always had disdain for the justice system anyway. Some people are jerks though and make them sit through the mtg. You know the stiffneck types. Where I live now they never mandate to AA. If they do, I have never seen it ever on Long island. They mandate to in and outpatient rehabs who use all the tools. Some do use the 12 steps more than others.

Many of the people mandated to AA are not addicted to alcohol anyway, They took a chance drinking and driving and got caught period. Some people in AA understand this, other not so much. Some AAers do think that if you made a bad decision you must have a problem. That used to piss me off. Only the person can decide this for themselves

Brett was KB Tooth beer big in ausieland? We used to drink those giant cans here in the US back in the 80s. Just curious. They were a huge can of beer. Fosters had one of those giant cans also.

When I was in the outpatient rehab, mandated as part of my probation they would want you to admit you have a problem, even if you didnt. I would always open my big mouth in group and say that getting a dwi doesnt mean your an alcoholic. I had 5 different counselors in a 10 month period. 3 would agree with me but 2 of them (both steppers) would get mad at my comment. It went against what they believe. Im not kidding. 1 of them a woman with a zillion years sober hated me. And when i missed a session without calling in sick she had me kicked out. My union insurance guy had to call them up and get me reinstated. It was a big problem for me because the outpatient rehab notified my probation officer that I was not compliant with the rules. But others had done the same thing. The only difference was that they towed the line. And I made waves speaking the truth. I knew much more about addiction than all of them. I had 1 nice counselor at the end. We had a disagreement about addiction being a disease. I told the group that it was the only disease that i know of that if you are put in jail., you actually get better. 99% of the group agreed with me and were up in arms. I told her I was not trying to incite a riot but I truly believe its a behavior not a disease. She went and talked to her professor about it and came back the next week and apologized to the group and me. She said she had done me a diservice by arguing with me about it instead of just talking about a way out of the problem. Ill bet her professor told her that 80% of Drs dont believe alcoholism is a disease. He definitely told her something because she had no qualms about it anymore. When she aked me to say something on my day of leaving for good, I told the group that she was the best most openminded counselor I had ever had. I also said that others that worked there were closed minded and that teaching powerless and disease theory is not a good thing. Then I explained why. She gave me a big hug and that was it.