My name is Bob and I’m an alcoholic. I am also a nervous person and it helps me to address both issues in Recovery International. In former days, I remember thinking, while alone drinking in a bar, “You should be doing so much more with your life.” Well, today I am, but the road has not always been easy it never is.

I joined Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) in I984 and was on my path to wellness at long last, but it took several years of focus to stay on Sobriety Road. My major stumbling blocks were depression and anxiety, and my anger had turned to rage. I struggled, but I lived and breathed the I2-Steps. One day someone, seeing my challenge, suggested I visit Recovery International.

When I attended my first Recovery meeting it was like I had found a home and a family that understood, much like I felt when I first found AA. Wow! There are others just like me. I am not alone.
When AA’s slogans don’t work for my symptoms, I pull out some Recovery “spots” from my toolbox. If that tool or spot doesn’t work I put it back and use another AA and/or RI tool. I do this until I find just the right tool that works. At last, I found a way to stop compulsively drinking and take control of my insecure thinking and my life.

When that black cloud of depression hovers over me, or the anxiety and temper drives me close to using and abusing, I take some action steps, like moving the muscles to use some objectivity and to change my insecure thoughts to secure ones. This takes a will to effort and a will to bear discomfort.

When our heads get so clouded with symptoms, we often reach out to the professional who can prescribe a medication that will help us over the hump of our difficulties. It doesn’t mean we will take medication all of our lives, it means we need a little help for a little while.

The Recovery Method tells us we cannot control the outer environment; we can only Influence our own inner environment by using the skills of the Recovery Method. Today l do what it takes, and sometimes it takes a lot of doing.

Bob Dey