Question by Chaz: In A “12 Step” Program? Is A Family Member? Please Read On…?
I’m a recovering alcoholic (sober 5 years this July…).

I was looking online for books, audio CD’s, downloads, etc. Anything about furthering my recovery outside of AA. I go to meetings, but was just wondering what else there is to life after recovery without talking about AA all the time.

I found mostly blog posts (many just regurgitating each other), anti-AA groups and centers (one even says you can keep drinking!!!??!!!), and a couple overpriced books on Amazon from doctors who’ve never been addicted to anything.

So, over the last 6 months, I’ve gone away from the AA literature and read a lot about, and visited lectures on, the spiritual, metaphysical, self-healing arts.

Quite enlightening! And such a “positive” force!!

Paired with AA, these have put so much “into place” in my life, and given me much more hope for me & my family’s future.

Do you know of any books on such topics from the recovering alcoholic or addicts point of view?

Alternate/Piggyback question: Would YOU (like me) buy it if it existed?

Best answer:

Answer by John Reid
Congrats on the five years. I pretty much dropped out of AA at about the five year mark. A lot of people do but do not go back to the booze. Frankly, I got bored. I could go to a discussion meeting and know exactly what everybody in the room was going to say, sometimes even word for word, no matter what the subject of the discussion.
I began to think of myself as a human being with an alcohol problem instead thinking of myself as an “alcoholic” (meaning some sort of subhuman or alien from outer space), and was shouted down when I mentioned my point of view.
So I just went back to school for a couple years and got on with my life. I did a lot of reading, mostly classic literature, but have not let myself get into the self-healing stuff. For almost 32 years now, I have not seen any need for booze….yeah, O.K. I have felt a desire thousands of times but not a need.

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