Thanks to everyone who responded, it was good to hear from you again

I thought I would share my response to the comment by wiledchild

I agree with everything you said and I think it is a great danger for anyone in recovery to 'put all their eggs in one basket'.  It is a lesson I have to learn over and over again.  Something good comes along and I see it as 'the answer' and drop everything else.  So we do really need to strike a balance and to live recovery out in all our lives, as addicts we need to draw on as many forms of support as we possibly can.

However there is an aspect of this which you may not have considered. It may be that your experience of recovery has been one where there has always been a meeting to go to near you filled with many helpful supportive people. This is not true for everyone.

For the first couple of years of my recovery I was the only woman in my meeting and that was the only meeting I could get to.  Because of the nature of my addiction it was not a good idea for me to have contact with the men in my group so recovery was somewhat lonely.  This site and another one like it was a godsend to me and got me through that difficult time. I felt safe here as most of the people on the site were thousands of miles away anyway. 

There are many people in recovery across the world who have never been to a face to face meeting and rely on phone meetings and sites like this to get support and even to find sponsorship.  I like to be on this site now to help people like that by sharing my experience strength and hope.

It is a good way for all of us to do some service when you think of it.  Yes, there will be those who exploit sites like this but there will be more who help.  I hope your friend recovers and finds her way back to people she can trust.

Hi Cara;

             I don't know you however  I Can agree with you in the aspect that it is nice to talk / debate interact with others (hopefully) on the same path. I've collected a few days back to back Through the grace of my god, the wonderful 12 Step Program a loving sponsor and the rooms of recovery. However it was not till lately that I've really engaged in these rooms, it is a nice addtion. However I remember why I was reluctant to come here the reasons were multiple. One is that it is the internet and anyone can choode to by or create whatever persona they like, I remember years ago a freind of mine use to come to these sites all the time so much so that we rarely saw her at meetings anymore. They said they were doing good and was finding great support online then a while after found that they had relapsed, now not blaming the site they visited , however the story i got was they finally arranged to meet an online sponsor while on vacation and ran into a real horror show the online sponsor was actually a dealer of sorts and had relapsed 8 months earlier. While they lost trust in things and the relapse followed. Yes extreme case- however the point being is do you ever really know who you are dealing with online. Secondly there is no replacement of actual human contact - a live meeting, real-life hugs genuine comradery, looking some one in the eyes, seeing that sparkle, the warm handshakes, the lousy coffee, actual human bonding. A lot more opportunities for service work. The addition of these sites are great unless we allow them to replace the Live meetings and interactions, service work.

I think there is nothing wrong with getting a life and real live freinds, Isn't that exactly the point of the 12 step program of recovery- To get a LIFE and to bring the princples we have learned out into our lives outside the meetings into EVERY aspect of our lives- Isn't really how we carry the message

Hello love. Think many of us got lost in the quietness and maybe caught up in life!

luv

Once in a while I stop by- Nia

Yeah I noticed that not too many people blog anymore. I kind of have been away awhile too. Nice to see you back though.

Knock...

Yep, I manage to make it back on occasion. Glad to see you come by to visit too...

Hugs,

Dennis