Welcome to General Chat - GAW Community Area
This General Chat area started off as a place for people to talk about things that are off topic, however it has quickly evolved into a community and has become an integral part of the GAW experience for many of us.
Based on its evolving needs and plenty of user feedback, we are trying to bring some order and institute some rules. Please make sure you read these rules and participate in the spirit of this community.
Rules for General Chat
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Be respectful to each other. This is of utmost importance, and comments may be removed if deemed not respectful.
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Avoid long drawn out arguments. This should be a place to relax, not to waste your time needlessly.
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Personal anecdotes, puzzles, cute pics/clips - everything welcome
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Please do not spam at the top level. If you have a lot to post each day, try and post them all together in one top level comment
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Try keep things light. If you are bringing in deep stuff, try not to go overboard.
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Things that are clearly on-topic for this board should be posted as a separate post and not here (except if you are new and still getting the feel of this place)
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If you find people violating these rules, deport them rather than start a argument here.
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Feel free to give feedback as these rules are expected to keep evolving
In short, imagine this thread to be a local community hall where we all gather and chat daily. Please be respectful to others in the same way
I'm sorry to hear you have had bad experiences with the meetings. I to did not find the meetings helpful, though I know many that do. I'm sure each meeting is different and anytime you get addicts together...there are gonna be a lot that are dealing with there own demons.
Have you thought about joining a local church. The 12 steps do have some biblical support...though they don't ground it in Christ...so it falls short in many ways.
The important thing is to "control the things you can control" which doesn't include how others act...only how we respond to there actions. Love you fren. Feel free to reach out if you ever need a fren to talk to or need prayer. Love you
I've met some really great people there too but I just don't think it's healthy for me to be around some of the people there. I realize that I'm going to have health issues from alcohol and want to be a better son, business owner, friend etc. so I quit drinking. I wish I had some of you as friends in real life. It feels like I'm lumped in with some truly awful people and I'm glad they're getting help but I didn't ruin other people's lives, I was a good person even drunk I'm just better off without it. It's wrong for me to judge but I don't want to be around shitty people regardless of their sobriety.
I can't be around people who ditched their kids, beat their spouse, cheated, lied, stole... I'm guilty of dodging responsibility and spending too much time getting drunk with my dog and fishing... led girls on because I was drunk and horny....
Wow fren awesome heartfelt stuff right here. Thanks for being open.
What is the reason you feel you can't be around people with certain faults/sins?
Someday I trust we will all be able to meet. Praying on that very thing often.
Fren that's awesome that you wanted to be a better person. Keep at it.
I think I get what Luminescent is saying. At least, I think so. Some people are just so toxic, it's dangerous to be around them. And I feel no obligation to do so. If God wants me to be around them, He'll prompt me and give me the strength. Not everybody is worth our time. Some are just demons in disguise.
That is exactly what I was getting at. Even drinking heavily and daily I was still me, loan friends money when they need, help my elderly neighbor rebuild his fence after a bad storm, let a coworker crash on my couch when there's trouble at home... so many people enabled my drinking or at least overlooked it because I'm a good person and a productive member of society. I have a problem with projection, I assume everyone is honest and moral.
Now that I don't drink I notice EVERYTHING and there really is some evil in people at places I hadn't expected to find it like AA. A lot are so busy stroking each other's egos for being sober that they choose not to see the demons in the room. At least an addict has the excuse of being too fucked up to notice the sins being committed or they've made but some of these people are full on working for the devil consciously.
Demon posed but still created by God...right
Shouldn't we approach these people with confidence that our Lord is stronger then any force that evil can send our way. And yes I know it's not always easy but shouldn't this be the goal.
These people are chances for our faith to take action. It's a process to get there and I don't judge anyone where they might be at.
The Bible tells us to focus on all things good and righteous. So to me this means I focus on the fact that our God can heal anyone and I will stand in the gap for them.
Love conquers all...what if your act of love and grace and mercy is the spark Jesus wanted to send there way so he could re ignifht the light within them.
I guess what I'm saying is we should always be receptive to being used by God. This requires putting aside our own understanding and following in the footsteps of Jesus as best we can.
I do understand what he is trying to say though. Simply providing some add on thoughts. Learning to suffer...even when it's caused by people...can really renew the mind in awesome ways
Oh and good to see you fren. Hope all is well with you