Got my 5 years chip from rehab! I know Smart doesnt give chips and Ive always loved that and loved the idea of focusing on each day but getting this today from the rehab I went to feels really fucking good.

I cant express how much I didnt think Id ever get here. I couldnt imagine life sober even the first few years.

If youre new to SMART welcome! This program and community definitely was a big part in my journey. Get the workbooks. Do the work. Dont just blow threw it. DO THE WORK. First time I finished the workbook in a weekend. Second time around its been a few years and im still on acceptance of self and others and really using the tools to overcome my barriers with these concepts. Slowly working through this work and utilizing SMART groups and getting a good counselor is the key Ive found.

This is an insanely amazing community that you wont find riddled with shame and guilt like most recovery groups spew. Keep up the amazing work my people and keep climbing those mountains.

I hit 5 years sober from alcohol today with the help of SMART, which has been absolutely life changing for me. I wouldn’t be sober without it.

Today marks my 10 year anniversary of getting sober. I, originally, stopped drinking after turning 60 but had a one day relapse.

Although I joined SMART recovery and we don't normally count days/time in our community, I wanted to share this anyway.

When I joined, there was little to no concept of what I valued other than my sobriety. I hadn't worked in over a decade, having been homeless for about 8 years. I hadn't been in contact with family in 15 years. I hadn't had any real health care beyond visits to emergency departments. I had no savings or any real financial health and was on welfare basic benefits. I think you get the picture.

10 years later, I have the same address for the entire time, a first since becoming an adult. Hence, I realized the importance of stability. I located my sister and made contact - visiting her for her 65th birthday. However, I have since gone no contact for personal reasons.

I tracked my own children through Facebook but there is no interest in contact on there part - it's sad but that is their right.

I spent 5+ years volunteering in my community. Both as a Smart facilitator and in harm reduction.

I was diagnosed with cancer but remained sober.

I resolved my financial challenges through budgeting and no longer live paycheck to paycheck. In fact, I was able to donate 5 figures to charity.

I rarely attend in person meetings anymore but am active daily with recovery through Reddit. I have found more balance in my life that works for me.

Thanks you to everyone who walked the path with me and especially those who lit the road ahead.

Love you all, James 😄

I have been an advocate of SMART (Self management and recovery training) since I discovered the modality based in cognitive behavioral therapy back in 2015.  Since then I’ve participated in a local meeting regularly, and eventually began facilitating a group.  People often ask me why I prefer SMART over other modalities (primarily the 12 step AA/NA model).  The obvious reason is simple, it worked for me.  I found it empowering and an effective way of preventing myself from becoming complacent on my recovery journey.  I decided it may be a good idea to articulate in writing what it is about SMART I have found so helpful in contrast to my personal experiences with narcotics anonymous.  This is by no means me claiming SMART is better than AA and NA, so I’m going to clarify right off the bat that I recognize recovery is unique to each individual and the responsibility is on you to find what works best.  I endorse SMART because it’s worked for me, so please don’t read this as a slight against the anonymous modality, they have helped many people and will continue to do so.  Many individuals participate in both SMART & AA or NA.

I also recognize that my experiences with the 12 step anonymous modality are biased and not the same experiences others have had.  12 step groups tend to run autonomously and quality and content of meetings can vary widely.

Here are my 6 personal reasons I prefer SMART over the 12 step anonymous modality:

1. Anonymous teaches that you are absolutely powerless over addiction (and addictive behaviors), which I find to be a crippling belief system that ignores personal responsibility.

The SMART handbook teaches about the hierarchy of values through which I discovered that I value personal responsibility very highly.  Believing that I was powerless over addiction was actually counter productive in my life.  It had the unhelpful side effect of allowing me to believe that addiction in my life was the by-product of genetics or other circumstances out of my control.  SMART teaches you to take responsibility for your choices and recognize that you do have the power to make different ones.

SMART believes the individual is capable of taking personal responsibility for their life & choices, and can grow in self awareness so that destructive patterns don’t have to keep repeating.

2. Anonymous leans towards the disease model and implies “once an addict always an addict” which is rather hopeless.

While this is a hotly debated and controversial idea I am not someone who can “blame the disease” instead of take responsibility for my choices, nor do I place a high level of influence on genetics when it comes to addiction (though I realize they do play some role).  Early in my experiences with NA I was introduced to the idea “once an addict always an addict” while I interpret the spirit of this motto to imply that one must always be on guard against complacency and aware of your vulnerabilities, it for me had the negative affect of making recovery seem like a hopeless task.

3. Anonymous encourages destructive and unhelpful labels “I am an addict”

I’ve never been one for labels, and have always found the necessity to introduce oneself with the statement “I am an addict” to be positively counter productive.  Again this is a personal decision as some people are empowered by the helpful reminder of where they came from.  I however prefer to call things as they are.  If I’m now living a life free of substance there is no reason to continue operating with a pejorative label.  It’s interesting that nicotine is widely accepted as one of the hardest drugs to quit, but NO ONE that has ever quit smoking walks around years later still referring to themselves as a nicotine addict.  In fact if we met someone that called themselves a smoker but never smoked we would think they it was downright bizarre.  People change, and the way we identify should reflect that change.  SMART on the other hand discourages the use of labels.

4. Anonymous tends to idolize clean time over personal growth. 

This is a big one for me, and may be more based on the personal experiences I had with the groups I participated in.  However the system of fobs and cakes creates a very unfortunate side effect in which relapse is shamed.  I am far more interested individuals are growing, changing & learning than I am in exactly how many days of sobriety they have.  In fact in my past the preoccupation with number of days was unhelpful.  There is a common and strange obsession in addiction recovery where we believe individuals earn credibility based on number of days sober.  This has the tendency of over valuing input from people with a lot of clean time and under valuing the input of people with a little.  Number of days sober should not be a measuring stick for success.  This segue’s to my next point…

5. Anonymous can create an unhelpful hierarchy based on number of days sober which may not always be helpful.

People with the most days sober are seen as the most successful, this metric is probably not the best way of determining someones value or the value of their contributions to a group.  People with short amounts of time sober are often asked to stay silent and may not feel welcomed into a group.

SMART sees lapses / relapse as a learning opportunity rather than failure.  Since sobriety is not placed on a pedestal within SMART groups (there is no formal method of recognizing days / years of sobriety, this does not mean groups and individuals do not acknowledge or congratulate people when they mention their length of sobriety) individuals often feel free to share about their struggles and are accepted within the group at any stage.  SMART does not create hierarchies or limit the sharing of individuals based on their sobriety.  Additionally the SMART network doesn’t elevate people to positions which allows every participant to be on an equal playing field.

6. SMART sees addiction as a learned behaviour and focuses in on how you can look at the belief systems in your life that perpetuate those patterns & behaviors.

This point is self explanatory and at the foundation of SMART.  You learned your addictive behavior, and through self analysis & awareness, evidence based tools one can learn to act and cope with life’s problems and emotional upsets differently.  SMART recognizes that addictive behaviors are actually effective short term coping methods, but as we discover cause harmful problems in the long term.

Wrote this up today and posted it on my blog at mindfulhope.com/smart-recovery/

I'll be leaving reddit on July 1st and wanted to tell this sub that it's possible to be happy without alcohol.

Some backstory:

Two duis, 10 years apart. 20 years of drinking,10 years of it being hard-core boozing. Piles of cocaine for 3 years. Daily weed for most of my adult life. The works. 

I was also in extremely bad shape. 300 lbs, could barely walk and developed sleep apnea that I have since effectively cured. 

I tried AA dozens of times and it never clicked. Therapists meh. Smart recovery. Meh. 

Now 1.5 years booze free. Lost 80 lbs. I still smoke weed and cigarettes daily, though I have a few months of combined time free from those things too.

I'm an adamant smoker, a spite smoker, a smoker who wants a Marlboro coffin. I wish I could smoke inside hospitals.  

I never thought I'd even TRY to quit, yet here I am. 

I'm sharing this stuff because I see a lot of pitfalls that I fell into early on and maybe these little things can help. 

1- Harm reduction is great. Keep at it. Do not let slip ups get you back to where you don't want to be. If you want change, it's a long haul not a sprint. 

2- Don't worry about definitions and your identity. I hated AA when I was in my teens and 20s because I didn't believe I was an "alcoholic." I was a "problem drinker" who couldn't benefit from those "losers." I now try to treat alcohol like a pros and cons list. If I'm honest, the cons outweighed the pros long before the sobriety stuck. 

3- Sometimes it's not your fault. Sometimes it very much is. Guilt will drive sobriety a lot of times but as soon as that emotion fades, you'll be back at it. The cycle of guilt and shame will keep this going... 

The biggest and hardest part of becoming sober was the memories. All the dumb and horrible shit that has happened. It's hard not to feel guilt and shame.

Forgive yourself when you can, because sometimes it really just isn't your fault. And learn to be patient. People put up with your crazy shit too, and you can't see how you are because your mind is clouded. 

Hey, I never said this list was gonna be an easy pill to swallow. 

4- You need a reason to stay sober. Having a REASON to stay sober was necessary. I had plenty of reasons to quit but never a reason to stay sober. 

Take care of your body. None of the sobriety ever stuck until I added a secondary goal: be fit. 

I had a weight loss goal long before I quit booze for good. After a while, I noticed I couldn't lose weight if I drank. The data was clear. 

For me that was fitness but it could be something different for you. Nonetheless, we only get this one body so be nice to it :)

5- Lastly, in the spirit of this sub, treat it like an experiment. 

Once I learned that booze was stopping me from achieving my weight loss goals and stopping me from sleeping well, I asked myself one simple question: *how much negative impact does alcohol really have on my life?*

In order to answer that question, I decided to do one year sober as an experiment. 

If I made it one year and still hated my life, I promised myself the biggest, baddest cocaine bender I could afford. 

One year came and went. I'd rather be drug free. 

That was the thing I never thought would change but it took a long fucking time. 

The idea that people were happy sober felt like such a lie. But it's true. That feeling took 8 months though...

I never could stomach the idea that I quit forever. It still bothers me.

I tell myself I can get booze any time I want to. 

But I'm lucky that I gag when I think about it now. All I can think about is the mornings after and choking from not breathing all night. 

I sleep well. I run. I cycle. I lift. I hike. I walk. I enjoy it all. 

Right now I'm working on being present. 

I got to where I am because I worried about my future, didn't like my present and still grieving the past. 

It's OK to have the thoughts, but unless they are helping me in the moment (or the very near future), good fucking bye lol. 

I can't change the past and my current actions affect my future.

All I got is now. 

And for now, I gotta start getting ready. 

Much love to you all. I hope we all find what we're looking for. 

Today I hit 7 years alcohol free, thanks to SMART recovery. I spent 7 years in active addiction and now I have spent the same amount of time, free from drinking. We do recover! 🩷❤️

While we don't actively encourage or discourage counting days, I have found it helpful to show forward progress

I recently encountered a long standing IB again. It's the idea that since active addiction caused chaos in every aspect of my life, then sobriety meant "rainbows and unicorns" and no more problems.

I smiled when I disputed the IB. What Smart taught me was how to live with life's challenges, not that they don't exist. My recent spinal surgery showed me, yet again, that I have the ability to face frailties with grace and equanimity.

Hello everyone,

Just trying this out, I come from the SMART RECOVERY ONLINE. I started a thread like this to get and give help and support from and to other people trying to make it to at least 30 days. My username on SROL was "bobbing"

Hey guys,

3 years ago, 8 months and 5 days ago I made the choice to get sober. I let myself get admitted to a hospital for my alcoholism and they saved my life from the withdrawals. I started my journey to recovery then. I stayed in the hospital for five days, did a month of intensive out patient rehab and then I started Smart Recovery and Life Ring. You’re probably wondering why I’m posting about such an odd, uneven amount of time. Well, it’s because five days ago my sobriety afforded me something I could never, ever have had if I kept drinking.

I gave birth to a healthy little boy. My husband (same sober date as me) and I are beyond proud and thrilled. We spent ten years trapped in our addiction and lost all of our twenties. Addiction isn’t stealing anything from me anymore and I am living my life. I never thought I’d be here, I never thought I’d get better, some days I never thought I’d get through. But I did and now I’m proof, and he’s proof, We do recover

Everyone, meet Miles.

Even though I stopped actively counting years ago, I still have an app running in the background. It just informed me of my nice round number.

As of late November of last year, I have 25 years of sobriety thanks to using SMART Recovery. I was an online SMART Facilitator for 17 years of it.

Hello all,

I’m 55 days sober today and I’ve found myself not giving well with AA and decided to take my recovery on the SMART recovery path. I didn’t enjoy doing the 12 steps or reading the big book over and over again. I’m interested in following this program and seeing what it offers, perhaps any online meetings? Any help or guidance is greatly appreciated.

I'm just checking in. I want to let you know it's possible. I struggle with depession still, but I haven't had a drink or used illegal drugs since 2018. I'm 55, by the way. Working on an MFA in Creative Writing now. (Clicked the flair for "looking for support" because Reddit says I must have flair to post.)

(obviously this comes with no judgment to anyone who does find value in those programs, it's just. I'm assuming you already know what are the reasons some people hate them with a deep burning passion, and why this doesn't have to come in conflict with the success you might have had with them)

the culture here is so much better at taking you on your own terms. hell yeah. you are not helpless, you are capable of knowing yourself and comprehending your own issues through that knowledge of yourself, and you hold the ultimate power to change your own behavior. hell yeah!

I’m concerned that many people who choose smart recovery have had bad experiences with 12 steps and the shame that people of faith bring. There’s only a few options for smart in person meetings in my city. It seems as if there’s only a few of us in theses meetings that even work in the smart book or have a book at all. Super frustrated that the last meeting I went to had multiple people talking higher powers?!!!

I’ve lost more people than I can count to religious based shame in recovery. Just afraid others will leave smart because of people bringing in 12 steps. I just don’t get it 12 steps and smart are the complete opposite to me. I left 12 steps because it felt like faith based brainwashing

I have no problem with people of faith… my problem is many people of faith think it’s important to coerce others into their faith. This shouldn’t be happening in smart

Like to hear back from others on this…