When i needed help with my drug and alcohol addiction i had no idea who or where to turn to for help. I had never considered myself an addict i was just having fun and i didnt have a problem. Admitting you have a problem is the first step you can take and it is a very hard step. Recovery is a very long and hard road to go down. The best advice i have for anybody looking for help is dont do it alone. We have all been down this road and we all have a story. Get to a meeting asap and find a sponsor. Thats the biggest mistake that i made is i went to rehab and i did what i had to do to make it through rehab but i didnt continue on with care after i got out. I didnt go to the twelve step meetings anymore and i didnt get a sponsor. You need a sponsor!!! You cant do this alone. Maybe for a little bit you can but it wont last, without a sponsor you are already one step into relapse. There are many different twelve step programs out there. You have alcoholics anonymous, cocaine anonymous, narcotics anonymous, celebrate recovery. The difference in celebrate recovery is it is more based on the bible. In the other twelve step programs its about having a higher power, in celebrate recovery it is about having jesus in your life. It also isnt just for people with drug and alcohol problems. You can have anything from depression to gambling problems, relationship problems, anything that you dont think you have control over in your life. Like i said i didnt know where to go when i needed help so i checked myself into rehab and thats how i found most of my sources. Recovery is alot easier if you know where to go to get help. I have included some websites for different twelve step meetings and also a website for rehab. I also want to get info out there on all the different drugs out there and what they do to peoples lives. I never knew how bad addiction was in our community until i became an addict myself and its everywhere.
THE TWELVE STEPS OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become
unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to
sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we
understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature
of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make
amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do
so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly
admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with
God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us
and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to
carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our
affairs.
