On April 13, 2023, after a nine year absence from peer-supported recovery, I walked through the doors of a secular Twelve Step group and once again admitted I’m an alcoholic. I’d already been ‘dry’ for almost two years, but here’s the thing: not drinking (or using anything) is a necessary but insufficient condition for sobriety. […]
My name is Eric, I’m an alcoholic, and my community is Secular Alcoholics Anonymous. Almost two years ago, this community saved my life, and I’m engaged in efforts to help it save the lives of others who suffer from alcohol use disorder. AA as a whole is shrinking because it remains stuck in the past, […]
“When you feel in yourself the addictive attraction of alcohol, remember these words: You stand between the two worlds of your lesser self and your full self. Your lesser self is tempting and powerful because it is not as responsible, not as loving, and not as disciplined, so it calls you. The other part of […]
I recently came to the realization that, for a good portion of the last few years, I’ve been steadfast in the activity of ‘not-dying’ as opposed to truly ‘living’. In the fall of 2022, I made a decision to not end my life and instead reached out for help. At the time, I had been […]
One of my goals here is to sift through traditional Twelve Step recovery concepts and make the language and ideas more palatable for agnostics, free-thinkers, atheists, and non-believers who, like me, are in recovery from addiction. I also work stuff out in my mind as I write, with my first draft often becoming my published […]
Everyone needs something to lean on sometimes. As a recovering addict, I definitely need some sort of power greater than myself to stay sober and to quell the self-destructive rebellion in my mind. Fortunately, that power doesn’t need to be outside myself. The nature of pure awareness Thoughts, ego, personality–and desires and cravings–are all aspects […]
The Peace of Wild Things 