I always knew down deep that I was an alcoholic. So to keep that information away from me, I had to teach myself that what was true was false and what was false was true, so I could keep drinking. The basic lie... That alcohol is the answer and not the problem. = Denial
I've never heard anyone say, "Whoops, sorry guys I was wrong, see, I can drink normally."
Yes indeed, I am an alcoholics and will be to the end. Luckily for me, it was a life sentence, not a death sentence. I feel the same way about having the (permanent) disease of alcoholism as if I had diabetes. Both are treatable, like so many diseases. As far as not being able to drink safely again goes, I honestly can't remember a time where alcohol ever improved my state of mind or situation, so really, should I miss it? My HP pointed that one out.
Scott
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Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. ~Buddha
My experience is that since I started attending meetings in 1985 I have yet to see or hear of a single person who has returned to normal drinking for any considerable period of time.
It did occur to me in my early days, if I did make a mistake and I was not an alcoholic, would abstinence be detrimental to my health?
It also occurred to me that if I made the opposite choice and I was wrong how could continued drinking not be detrimental to my health?
So I quit the debating society and got on with recovery, comparing the events that happened during my drinking career and in recovery would suggest that even if I am not an alcoholic I made a brilliant decision when I decided to stop and get on the program.
Sadly some of the people I got to know along the way who then decided they were not alcoholic are now dead, so they cannot give you the flip side of the argument.
So I quit the debating society and got on with recovery, comparing the events that happened during my drinking career and in recovery would suggest that even if I am not an alcoholic I made a brilliant decision when I decided to stop and get on the program.
Exactly. I used to have a lot of problems with the law, the DMV, employers, my x-wife, the IRS, my parents, my neighbors, the bank, creditors.....
I quit drinking and one by one, all those problems went away. My net worth used to be in the red, now it's seven figures. I was homeless now I have 5 and a lot of other land. I could not keep one car on the road, now I manage 7 and few motorcyles, all legal, all taged, all insured. Best thing of all, (besides being happily married) is that before I could never finish a project and it was so frustrating, now I love projects, have many going on at the same time, and I finish them all. I couldn't drink if I wanted to, there's just no time for it. I'd have to quit one of my hobbies like motorcyle ridding, skiing, boating, scuba diving, photography, traveling. Life is short, why waste it drinking?
yes i do you are born with it it is a disease just like any other and the older you get the worse it gets it grows with you you are just sick like any other person with a disease and you are not a bad person you just can not drink. i know for a fact that when i was younger and i drank it was not too bad to recover but the older i got not only did my drinking get worse the recovery was worse also. i know now that i can not even have one drink and if i do it is not enough and i drink more till i black out and do stupid things that i would normally not do. i know also that the death of an alcoholic is a very nasty way to die and very painfull, living sober is not easy either and we have to go to meetings and share with everyone and listen as we can not be cured only keep it in recovery. all we have to do is stick with each other and talk about our day and pray constantly to what ever higher power you have. the minute you think you are not an alcoholic is the day you pick up and then you will know you are and always will be.
