Alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous

zero_nine

Crystalset wrote: »

I had been very ill-pneumonia & emphyema which required surgery. Doctors gave me the red card (I always hoped someone would say to me 'for you the war is over', never happened). After 10 months I had proved them right.
One night I drank 7 pints of Stella draught lager. I had a check-up next
day & the doc found rapid pulse + high BP + he did a blood test, then he just shrugged, said he was not going to say any more. On the way home I decided I'd try one day at a time. A publican friend, an AA man, told me
that if I was not prepared to go to meetings I should walk & get rid of energy-very good advice. Used to do 5 or 6 miles every day.
Three months on the going got hard, not a craving for alcohol but dealing with everyday problems without my crutch. Eventually I went for counselling-the best thing I've ever done. I was very lucky I got on really well with my counsellor. I had 16 hourly sessions, then it was suggested
I try life on my own. Naturally there are good days & bad days but c'est la vie.
Sometimes I wonder why me? Why have I survived when so many of my friends have succumbed?
Maybe meetings would have made the journey easier, I never dismissed the idea thinking that if I had a relapse I would give it a go. I think the main reason I kept off it is I would never want to go thru' those early days again.

Good story. Its interesting you say that you wonder how you managed to survive and your friends succumb. I wonder about that sometimes, sometimes there is just a perfect storm around which you can successfully quit, and for some (I may say most) that never comes.