dranktoomuch

Per the comments below it's what you make it and some groups skew more towards a traditional "God" understanding

my experience in general with norcal AA groups is "higher power" is used instead of "God" almost exclusively, people are very careful to not push God / religious understanding / etc

At step 3 you have to turn it over to a "higher power" which is a reflection of the understanding that it is unlikely you, yourself have the power to control alcohol and there must be something "Greater than" you - that can be "physics" that can be "the moon" and a guy who has been sober a very long time in the meeting i go to says his higher power is the "light fixture"

Great question, the first year my sponsor said "avoid those events or have an escape plan"

avoiding was a non starter so the "escape plan" was I committed to leave, akwardly as it may be, before i picked up a drink.

aka if someobdy was pressuring me to drink to the point i felt i had to i would say "ok get me a beer i have to go to the bathroom" and then disappear and blame it on an upset stomach

and believe the truth that unless you take somebody else's drink away from them or ask them to stop drinking nobody cares if you have a beer or a coke in your hand

After the first year I learned that caffiene has a similar effect on me in social situations if i need to ramp up and can be just as engaging / moreso

a couple of weeks, for alcoholics w/significant PAWs they should work with a doctor or inpatient in addition to AA or similar early 2 week program, of which there are many i can reccomend depending on location

other interesting timing stuff for me

30 days until believing i could actually do it "one day at a time"

90 days until the cravings subsided reguarly

1 year until cravings for the most part behind

2 years until no more alcohol dreams !

Hey gang.

I've been an HN member for a long time, fairly prominent Bay Area tech executive, rich in the sense of both bank accounts and family.

Alcohol brought me to my knees in my late 20s / early 30s.

It started out as the typical "social lubricant" to help a natural introvert be better at connecting with people and was wonderful at that - I was the life of the party.

Over a decade it leaked into a "requirement" for just about anything and eventually drinking heavily 3 / 4 nights a week.

Eventually I sought paid help from therapists, coaches, natural remedies, medication, recovery specialists. Nothing worked. Eventually a therapist told me "you're screwed the only thing left to try is AA".

I was highly skeptical, an agnostic, still am more or less, but AA saved my life on account of the comradery i found in the rooms of SV meetings. People with the same story and same struggles who worked the steps and recovered.

One of the AA rules is attraction not promotion, this isn't promotion only my own simple testimonial. Statistics say that it doesn't work for a lot of people but knowing the general skeptical nature of HN and the crowd I want anybody struggling or who was in my situation to know that for this one skeptical / tech / entrepreneurial brain it was a lifesaver after trying basically everything else.

Now sober ~9 years and counting and wouldn't have it any other way.

I am happy to answer questions about the program if anybody is struggling, can give an anon email too if preferred.

edit: temp gmail account ohohuhunkjnuihuh@gmail.com