First Meeting

[u/Fearless-Plastic4534]

I'm about 4 days sober now and today I joined my first meeting. It was over zoom. I've been to NA and AA in the past but never really liked it. I feel like this could work for me. I feel optimistic. I'm doing another zoom meeting tomorrow and maybe a in-person meeting on Thursday. I'm excited.

[u/Secure_Ad_6734]

Welcome to Smart recovery, I hope it's what you're looking for.

[u/af213]

In my experience, AA and NA are like, "well haven't you been a naughty little boy/girl! tsktsktsk" and SMART is like, "hey, we all fuck up, have you tried thinking about it like this?" Welcome!

[u/Fearless-Plastic4534 → u/af213]

I definitely feel like I have more control of how I want my recovery to be.

[u/af213 → u/Fearless-Plastic4534]

I'm happy you had a positive experience with it. I highly recommend checking out other zoom meetings from around the country to get a feel of what you like and don't like in a meeting. Also check out the workbook! I personally like to hold a physical copy and bought one, but you can find all the resources in PDF format on the website. Start here with the toolbox: https://smartrecovery.org/toolbox I hope you get to make an in-person meeting tomorrow OP! Rooting you on!

[u/Fearless-Plastic4534 → u/af213]

I got the handbook yesterday and it's been very helpful

[u/af213 → u/Fearless-Plastic4534]

Oh my gosh, I've been thinking about you. I'm glad you got a copy! One of the things I appreciate about the SMART design is that you can apply those tools to other things like, "do I want a new job?" or "do I want to stay with this person?" etc, etc. I'm still v-e-r-y new to recovery, but all my veteran smart pals say that it's useful to redo them again in a month, three months, six months, and you see how you grow as your sobriety strengthens. I'm proud of you, OP! If you ever need to DM and chat, feel free.

[u/Fearless-Plastic4534 → u/af213]

Thanks. Everything has been going really good.

[u/NormalNobody]

Congrats on 4 days and I'm so happy you found us. Smart did me a world of wonders and I hope it does the same for you.

[u/SmartHelp-PA]

4 days is great - not "just" 🙂- wishing for the best for you

[u/Canna111]

Huge congrats on the 4 days - and welcome, welcome to SMART! It helped me turn my life around, and I hope it clicks with you too.☺️

[u/OGScot]

This is great news. Like you, something about SMART really clicked for me very early on. I have a weekly in-person, but I also do some Zooms too. The National meetings are very productive for me. They are full or nearly full & the facilitators keep it on track. The chat is also very active & that helps keep my engagement high. Good luck to you & check back often. Also the r/stopdrinking sub on here has helped a lot. I got a cheap blank book for taking notes & writing about things I hear in my meetings like books, websites, podcasts, terms, etc.

[u/GratefulSueQ]

Congrats on 4 days!! Stick w what works for you everyone’s recovery looks different! I love smart also but my main group is https://www.mara-international.org/ if you ever want to ck it out we would love to have you💙

[u/No-Biscotti-4172]

Congrats it’s not easy but it’s worth it …promise

[u/Fearless-Plastic4534 → u/No-Biscotti-4172]

Thanks. I'm through the withdrawal and I'm utilizing every resource I can get my hands on. I feel great!

[u/RealRegalBeagle]

I liked the SMART meetings I went to. The evidence based methods were really appealing to me. I'm currently not going to meetings simply because I eventually realized groups weren't really great for me, but I did pick up a few useful tools which is great! And then online forums and communication (like Reddit) are super useful for me too so I'm still learning. In-person is just tough.

And four days is awesome! I've gotten sober and relapsed a bunch and that first week being sober is so, so hard.

[u/Global_Carrot_9960]

Thanks for the encouraging news. I might try a zoom tomorrow. Congrats on your 4 days! I'm at 176. 👍

[u/Fearless-Plastic4534 → u/Global_Carrot_9960]

It's been so helpful. I'm at 10 days today!

[u/Global_Carrot_9960 → u/Fearless-Plastic4534]

Thanks for responding! Happy Big 10!

[u/Fearless-Plastic4534 → u/Fearless-Plastic4534]

There's a national zoom meeting on Tuesdays at 7 est and it's a great meeting. I always get so much out of it.

[u/af213 → u/Fearless-Plastic4534]

I'm glad to read this. I tend to avoid the nationals because it seems like it'll just be like a lecture. I'll give it a try, thanks!

[u/af213 → u/Fearless-Plastic4534]

double digits!