How I Finally Stopped Drinking -- Without Rehab or AA
Updated: Nov 24, 2020

Recovering from Addiction Online
I didn’t know that I was looking to recover online.
I had four small children and worked full time, so the idea of giving another couple of hours of my life to AA, every day, seemed impossible.
I had just downloaded the local AA meeting list and was trying to Google AA alternatives, and there was SMART Recovery online. I had never heard of them before.
At the time, I wasn’t against AA on a religious basis or any other, really. I’d found it moderately helpful years back, but I had never committed myself to “working” the program’s 12 steps or to getting a sponsor.
On the first, I really didn’t understand the whole surrender concept. I tried, but whatever I was doing, it didn’t work well for me. On the second, I was so shy!
An Alternative Model of Addiction
When I started to read how sound, practical ideas can be applied to drinking and other addictions, at SMART Recovery, that was like a beam of light illuminating everything!
I first wandered into SMART Recovery online and saw this message board where it seemed like I could hear real people’s voices. As I read, the psychology and the kindness both grabbed me.