It’s 2:00 a.m.
Nothing went right today.
You can’t sleep. Back in the day, you’d have known how to deal with this: A drink, a hit, a pill.
Your sponsor is visiting parents in another town. You probably should have gone to a meeting tonight, but it seemed like just too much effort.
You find yourself thinking of ways to get what you need– a bottle, a pill, a hit.
This is relapse thinking. You know that, but it’s not going away.”
This is a job for– Online Fellowship!
Fellowship is a powerful tool for maintaining recovery. Staying sober is hard. Fellowship promises us that we won’t have to do it alone: Others have been where you are. They’ll help.
Whether it’s the Big Book fellowships of AA or NA, or an alternative like SmartRecovery, or SOS, the connection with others living the sober life can tip the “relapse moments” back in your favor.
Even if you’re not a great typist, or don’t feel comfortable sharing with faceless strangers, you can still connect. Here are a few tools to reach the fellowship of recovery, 24/7, world-wide and year-round.
Sober Tweeting
Tune in to Twitter (you have to be a member, but it’s awfully easy.) Enter the hashtag: #xa
Recovering Tweeters use the #xa tweetstream to share information and encourage each other at any hour of the day or night. You can look us up: @recoveryinst and subscribe to our growing “RecoveryHelpingRecovery” list to see tweets from recovering folks at any hour of the day or night.
Online AA Meetings
There’s a wide variety of AA meetings online, open and targeted (targeted or “specialty” meetings are focused on particular sub-groups of recovering people. Like women, or people serving in the military, etc.) You can connect with online AA at the Intergroup site here. There’s also an “online StepChat” schedule here.
Sober Blogs and Forums
Whatever problem we’re facing at our 2:00 am relapse decision point, it’s an almost certain bet that another recovering person has been there. They’ve shared it in a forum for people in recovery. And possibly blogged about it. Reading the stories of others, and knowing you’re not alone can make a difference. Here’s some of the forums we’ve found, and the link to our Sober Blogroll:
Forums and online communities:
Addiction Recovery Guide Message Boards
