Only you can decide whether you want to give A.A.a try whether you think it can help you.
We who are in A.A. came because we finally gave up trying to control our drinking. We still hated to admit that we could never drink safely. Then we heard from other A.A. members that we were sick. (We thought so for years!) We found out that many people suffered from the same feelings of guilt and loneliness and hopelessness that we did. We found out that we had these feelings because we had the disease of alcoholism. We decided to try and face up to what alcohol had done to us. Here are some of the questions we tried to answer honestly. If we answered YES to four or more questions, we were in deep trouble with our drinking. See how you do. Remember, there is no disgrace in facing up to the fact that you have a problem.
Answer YES or NO to the following questions.
1 - Have you ever decided to stop drinking for a week or so, but only lasted for a couple of days? Most of us in A.A. made all kinds of promises to ourselves and to our families. We could not keep them. Then we came to A.A. A.A. said: "Just try not to drink today." (If you do not drink today, you cannot get drunk today.)
Yes No
2 - Do you wish people would mind their own business about your drinking-- stop telling you what to do? In A.A. we do not tell anyone to do anything. We just talk about our own drinking, the trouble we got into, and how we stopped. We will be glad to help you, if you want us to.
Yes No
3 - Have you ever switched from one kind of drink to another in the hope that this would keep you from getting drunk? We tried all kinds of ways. We made our drinks weak. Or just drank beer. Or we did not drink cocktails. Or only drank on weekends. You name it, we tried it. But if we drank anything with alcohol in it, we usually got drunk eventually.
Yes No
4 - Have you had to have an eye-opener upon awakening during the past year? Do you need a drink to get started, or to stop shaking? This is a pretty sure sign that you are not drinking "socially."
Yes No
5 - Do you envy people who can drink without getting into trouble? At one time or another, most of us have wondered why we were not like most people, who really can take it or leave it.
Yes No
6 - Have you had problems connected with drinking during the past year? Be honest! Doctors say that if you have a problem with alcohol and keep on drinking, it will get worse -- never better. Eventually, you will die, or end up in an institution for the rest of your life. The only hope is to stop drinking.
Yes No
7 - Has your drinking caused trouble at home? Before we came into A.A., most of us said that it was the people or problems at home that made us drink. We could not see that our drinking just made everything worse. It never solved problems anywhere or anytime.
Yes No
8 - Do you ever try to get "extra" drinks at a party because you do not get enough? Most of us used to have a "few" before we started out if we thought it was going to be that kind of party. And if drinks were not served fast enough, we would go some place else to get more.
Yes No
9 - Do you tell yourself you can stop drinking any time you want to, even though you keep getting drunk when you don't mean to? Many of us kidded ourselves into thinking that we drank because we wanted to. After we came into A.A., we found out that once we started to drink, we couldn't stop.
Yes No
10 - Have you missed days of work or school because of drinking? Many of us admit now that we "called in sick" lots of times when the truth was that we were hung-over or on a drunk.
Yes No
11 - Do you have "blackouts"? A "blackout" is when we have been drinking hours or days which we cannot remember. When we came to A.A., we found out that this is a pretty sure sign of alcoholic drinking.
Yes No
12 - Have you ever felt that your life would be better if you did not drink? Many of us started to drink because drinking made life seem better, at least for a while. By the time we got into A.A., we felt trapped. We were drinking to live and living to drink. We were sick and tired of being sick and tired.
Yes No
Did you answer YES four or more times? If so, you are probably in trouble with alcohol. Why do we say this? Because thousands of people in A.A. have said so for many years. They found out the truth about themselves the hard way. But again, only you can decide whether you think A.A. is for you. Try to keep an open mind on the subject. If the answer is YES, we will be glad to show you how we stopped drinking ourselves. Just call. A.A. does not promise to solve your life's problems. But we can show you how we are learning to live without drinking "one day at a time." We stay away from that "first drink." If there is no first one, there cannot be a tenth one. And when we got rid of alcohol, we found that life became much more manageable.
Before coming to AA I took this test and I said yes to ten out of the twelve questions.
My alcoholic thinking concluded that since I had said no to two of the questions I obviously was not an alcoholic. I thought that the bottom entry saying if you said yes to four or more you may have a problem just was not correct in my case.
After coming to AA and gaining a small amount of honesty I answered yes to all of the questions. As we say "DENIAL IS NOT A RIVER IN EGYPT" we seem to be the last to know that we are alcoholics.
Larry, ---------------------------------------------------- Misery is almost always the result of thinking
Yes, to all except 1 & 3. Even now I can honestly say I never attempted to quit drinking. Never tried to change drinks to stay sober. Yes, to #12 only when I was sober I'd occassionally get a lightbulb moment & I did think life might be better . Then I'd go get drunk & forgot about life. Maybe if # 12 would have stuck in my mind I'd tried 1 & 3!! YES, I'm definately an alcoholic & AA IS for me!!
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God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. Courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Rheinhold Niebuhr
Hey Steve, sorry it took me so long to get back to you.
So you got 186 out of 186 on the alcoholic quiz huh?
and you are BUMMED?
Dude I'd be gloating and looking down on the wimpy ass 185'ers
OK, seriously, Know you know what the problem is. You are an alcoholic.
Some Chinese guy wrote 2500 years ago:
No Sickness
Short Life
One Sickness
Long life
What do you think he meant by that? It survived 2500 years so it must mean something right?
It was explained to me, and this was in Buddhist Meditation not AA, that it means the man with a good working knowledge of himself can take the necessary steps to take care of himself, thus insuring he had a long and fruitful life.
The guy with no humility, which is a good working knowledge of himself, will die. painfully. slowly. etc etc because he didn't address what was wrong with him.
Sounds kinda like us doesn't it?
I know guys that carry little pocket mirrors, I swear to God, they do this, and whenever they get upset, whenever they have a problem, whenever they angry they whip out their little "problem finder"
The problem, they say, has never failed to reveal itself to them, it's infallible. These are guys with 30-40 years of sobriety.
You sir, are an alcoholic, and have been given an answer to live a long, happy, healthy and contented life, should you so desire. You now KNOW what the problem is, and you know how to solve it.
I would think this is good news, it was for me, it was a HUGE relief for me.
-- Edited by AGO on Wednesday 17th of March 2010 09:28:07 PM
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Build a man a fire and he will be warm for a night, light a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life
Thanks AGO I appreciate it and am happy about it now :) I never looked at it that way. I was also planning on getting a AA ring they sell at speaker meetings which just happens to be tomorrow. I just got back from my home group where I shared and things seem to be going good for me. Even though its only 46-47 days sober and I realize life is still life with ups and downs I know that I dont have to drink today!
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God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
