Hope and Healing in The Forum

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As strange as this sounds I've been sober for a while but I haven't gone to AA meetings in a long long time.

I think if I had been going on a regular basis, I wouldn't have let this loss or death get to me like it had.

I don't know if this fits into hope and healing but I've been going to those meetings now and feel like it's not just a meeting for alcoholics but anyone. Not sure how people feel about higher power as opposed to god or nothing. For me, it's letting go of the things I had and embracing the things that're there. In other words, people are my higher power.

In the past...and I still have this problem. I never asked people for help and whenever an opportunity of friendship or getting to know someone well arrose, I selfishly abandoned it because of my "insecurities". Still have them and trying to overcome them step by step which isn't easy. I guess what I'm learning is that if I can feel better about myself in the process of getting through one emotional baggage, in turn maybe I can help that person in some small way with what they're going through.....hopefully.

Anyway, great thread.

Miss C, it's so good to see you posting again ! !

I haven't been to a meeting in years, but I remember that they encourage everyone to get a sponsor, someone to be there when times get really rough. I never did, too much of a lone wolf. A mate of mine sponsored lots of people. When he died half the people there were from AA. It was really touching.

Hahaha...that's one of my problems is asking for help I think.

This is probably why I've only had one sponsor since I started getting sober which was over two years ago. It's not real easy for me to just call people up...but they tell you just do it.

I have to say though, the meetings themselves are a little encouraging. I seem to do more talking in them than with my own therapist.

I did too. It's easy to share in those groups. Of course that was back I understood that I was ASpic. I just knew things were better when I stayed away from alcohol. These days I'm drinking every bloody day. A good mate has been sober for twenty + years. He trained as a Hospital Chaplain, and one of his first visits was to his original sponsor (! !) It had been so long ago they didn't recognize each other at first ! !!
Sometimes I think I should go to AA again.....

well, AA and NA are pretty flawed. BUT they can help one get sober and clean. i've been off everything 11 and half years. Being AS, i have a funny relationship with the social side of the program and the christian "god" stuff that is not my bag.
but i ignore that and go to a meetng once a week, avoid the cult mentality and mind my own business. i have met a few ok people and they accept my AS and my past history and because AA and NA are full of oddballs, weirdos and general misfits of one sort or another, it's been ok.

i like being clean and sober. i am glad of that.
i am not interested in living in AA or NA like some do, and i am not interested in it being my whole life.
I am interested in service and helping others and i like that.
I am also interested in the newcomer.

i have learned a lot from 12 step programs and i also think they are flawed.

thnaks Prof.

the best thing i learned from 12 step programs is the ideal and practice of service. wheni feel like a total toad, what can i do to help someone else? it might be a tiny thing...just a small gesture or action (that does not come naturally to me.)

i recently had the experience of being able to help someone in NA. she is a woman wiht AS undx'ed and her son has ben dx'ed with ADHD and with AS and is being given hell at school and by the community. This is where life becomes meaningful.
I have long known i do not bond well via social and emotional reciprocity. the way i can connect with others is through function and purpose of an information kind. that is a good thing.

as people with autism we can use our skills and assets for the good of all if we can get beyond thinking we are totally f****d (because our whole lives most of us have been told that particulalry thosewho are in my age group.)

i have found a lot of humor and wonderful stuff here, I did not sense a lot of downer topics.

Maybe cynical, but on the whole, I find everyone very strong and interesting and it's a good thing

This thread is a great idea.

Personally this site made me feel better on many levels.

I am too used to feeling like a 55 kilogram defect of a girl because I have AS. I feel more normal for talking to people on here.

Yes a lot of despairing here, including me, on the verge of suicide, a healing person says helpful things to me but I'm not healing yet, anyway it's not me that deserves to die it's my brother

I know you mean well, but IMHO it's all too little, too late. Wish I had the nerve to pull the trigger.

Had a bit of a shut down and not feeling great about myself lately, but feel better just by being here.

Questions - Need responses ASAP
I need help

I have three appointments coming up with medical doctors in the next month. Trying to get official diagnoses for Aspergers and ADHD so I can get appropriate help. I have an in-home worker with an agency who truly understands me and the issues and really listens. Since she does a lot of advocacy work, she promised to defend me to the hilt with these doctors because I tend to get frustrated when not heard and blow up. Then they start aiming me at an institution.

The agency has scheduled me with three different perfect strangers I've never met to advocate for me. They don't truly know me or the hard core issues involved and I won't meet them until 5 seconds before the appointments. I won't even have time to explain my purpose in being there. It's been my experience that's a recipe for disaster, especialy since this agency hires mostly kids straight out of college with no experience.

Any changes in the schedule have to be made before the 1st of October and my usual worker will be on vacation until after that. This agency historically doesn't listen well to client requests, and it could even end up as a black mark against me to ask them to forget it and let me advocate on my own, but that seems like my best option.

I've been fighting this move toward a nursing home for a year. I really can't postpone these appointments and waiting won't guarantee I'll get appropriate advocacy anyway. But I can't afford to blow them either.

Any suggestions how to get my needs met?

I've considered writing out my position and if they don't hear me, simply walking out without a word. Whether I can actually keep my mouth shut is a whole other issue.

Any suggestions on staying cool under fire?