No such thing as "Recovering" alcoholic

I've had the opportunity to see some of my colleagues expressing this fact lately.


Danny Boy calls it a misused word.  The proper word is "Unrecovered" evidently.


My mentor... sponsor's sponsor, if you want to get technical... said it this way; "Those who say they are recovering are not."  RIP Frank McKibbon.


I was at a meeting yesterday and a gal said she was still a newcomer... at two and a half years of sobriety.  Puke.  I like this gal too.  I just question her thought process.  It was a "newcomer" meeting because the chairperson had nothing... and used the Daily Reflection of the day as a topic.  There were other disgusting violations of tradition and steps in that meeting.  But I endured.  I even enjoyed the meeting once the a-hole "elderstatesmen" said their piece and shut the fuck up.


I spoke.  I said I am not a newcomer.  I did steps and can show the newcomer how to do steps.

Is A.A. effective article by Dick B.

Ok, I've read through the thing and I have 3 disagreements with your article;

1. Alcoholics vs addicts. Another topic for another day. *
2. The use of the word "cured". I'll go as far as "recovered", but not cured. The day I can drink a glass and a half of bourbon, I'll consider myself cured.
3. At this point, I've got a hold of this deal regardless of the way it was back in 35', 37', 39', etc. I'm very greatful for the work Bill W. did and the work and leadership that Dr Bob provided, but I don't think you have to be a Christian to get this deal. There may not be so many alcoholic Jews, but what about them? Did they have their own fellowship? What about many of the other religions. They were all converted to Christianity?

I think good step work with a healthy group or one heck of a sponsor that uses the A.A. book and the 12 Traditions Long Form would solve all of the 3 issues I've listed above.

I may or may not be Christian, but I think that has no bearing on the work I do in A.A.
I certainly was not much of a Christian prior to getting sober in A.A., and I think you could say the same for Bill.

Did Jesus the Carpenter decide to start loving alcoholics that sobered up in A.A. or did they start to get their ass's in shape so they could be in a position to ask for help in the first place?

I don't care anymore what people say about A.A., about it's recovery rate, its status as a religion/not-religion, cult, not-cult. It works for me and that's enough.

If you want to do A.A., get in. If you don't, that's fine. Then please don't go to any A.A. meetings. Get busy starting some Secular meetings, some Life Ring meetings, some S.M.A.R.T. meetings, some Rational Recovery meetings, etc. Give the treatment centers some options and stop 8!#ching that A.A. is forcing judges, doctors, therapist, counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, etc. to send their clients to A.A. Give them another option and do it by starting your own damned meetings.

Quit blaming A.A. for the world's problems, get off your asses and do something about it.

That's what I think.

* OK, it's another day. Anybody can be an addict. Do drugs for long enough and you'll become an addict. This includes coffee and tobacco. Anybody can also become a non-addict. Stop poppin' smack in your arm for long enough and you'll no longer be an addict.

You can't drink yourself into being an alcoholic. You'll either become an alcoholic or you won't be. But once you become an alcoholic, there's no going back.

Alcoholism and drug addiction are different.

Recovered vs Recovering

It is popular in certain circles to say, “I am recovering”; Now you may know immediately that those who say they are, are not.

They are telling you that this program does not work.

They are telling you that they are less than they are.

And they are not responsible for their lives.

That anything that happens to them is because they are recovering, and they have no responsibility.

RIP, Frank McK from Denver Colorado

Let's go into an AA 12 Step forum and bitch about "Hardliners" and run and hide behind the keyboard

Well... a few of my fellow posters didn't appreciate this too much.

Sorry about it. I was ticked and I wasn't too nice. I should be ashamed.

Step 12: Try reading Ch 7 Working With Others

Step 12: Try reading Ch 7 Working with others

Those rascals who wrote the big book hid a bunch of wonderful directions on how to work with others in the Big Book! Pages 89 to 103! Aren't I a smart-@$$? Beats being a dumb @$$ I guess.

But seriously. There are clear cut directions in there and they rarely get talked about in meetings. I think back in the good old days, the new comer was taken and properly 12 stepped, did steps and then they got to attend the meetings. Sounds pretty hard core. But then I wonder what the content of their meetings were? Actual factual experience? Wow! No wonder they had the high recovery rate.

I am an analytical guy and I like to take things apart and find out what makes them tick. This is why I have a hard time with God. But I've asked many in AA about this and I believe there are two distinct things we are looking at here;

• 
  Pitching new comers or meeting with people who think they might have a drinking problem and if so, help them get to meetings.
• 
  Once a person is in, regardless of how long they've been sober, showing them how to do steps or how you did steps or doing the steps together

So, I've noticed some are really good at doing both and either or. Some work really well with newcomers and some work really well with long-term sobriety.

Have you ever seen someone who's got a long time sober, but not a clue how to work steps? It's hard because they think they know something and are entitled to something. They won't move and you can't teach them nothing. Unfortunately, some of them drink. We had one that did, after 20 years, he came back in teachable, and has been sober and on fire ever since.

Is this crazy or what?

Some people do a lot of service work. Some are big on the 3 legacies of AA and some just love working with new people. We used to clean ashtrays, but ... that's in the past! Coffee. My favorite person! The coffee maker. It's a great job. GSR, PI, CPC, Grapevine, archieves... it's all about carrying the message to the alcoholic. [We used to say, come see the 5% do the 98% of the work!]And the BB isn't shy to suggest that it takes a little insurance out on ourselves and separates us from that next drink just a little bit. Oh, and support your group! Go to the Group Consciences/Business Meetings! Is your group and/or meeting the best in town? If not, make it that way! Don't just sit back and 8!$ch.

Door greeter! We have a person now who's a door greeter at a Thursday Night meeting I go to. It's cool. Little stuff like this goes a long way.

In my group, we're not big on sponsorship. Unless you're new and haven't been through a set of steps. Then ask. Work with somebody. But I don't have a "sponsor". I've done 6 sets of steps in the last 5 years. I'll sponsor you if you'd like. But sponsor? Why do I need a sponsor? The group is my sponsor. In any case, I'm responsible for my own sobriety and I must do steps and eat my own spiritual food. The group will know if I'm messed up or not. They'll yank my covers, and they do! We go to lunch on Friday.

We go somewhere that the food and service is good and we have lunch together. It's sort of and excercise in "Practice these principles in all our affairs." We learn to commit, to socialize, to break bread together and be grateful.

It's better to give than to receive. I believe this crazy paradox. Here's your chance.