Last night my wife and I decided to catch up with a friend of ours who lives in the area. Normally our spending time together consists of grabbing lunch or going for a walk, but last night we decided to get some food at a restaurant. I of course ordered a seltzer water (with lime) while my two acquaintances each ordered beers. What blew me away (absolutely blew me away) was the fact that our friend was sipping about an inch of his beer for an entire HOUR of conversation before he announced that he didn't really like that particular beer and was just going to leave the rest of it. My jaw was somewhere rolling around underneath the table. At one point he got up to use the bathroom and I told my wife: "You know how I know I shouldn't be drinking?" I then pointed to the beer, and she understood what I was thinking. At no point in my drinking life - under absolutely no circumstances - would I have left an almost entirely full glass of beer on a table just because I didn't like the taste of it. The good news is that I didn't feel any compulsion whatsoever to finish it for him. I spent the rest of the evening poking my lime with a straw and legitimately enjoying the conversation. 162 days. Woohoo!
-A
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When every situation which life can offer is turned to the profit of spiritual growth, no situation can really be a bad one.-Paul Brunton
The obsession has been lifted. It's a gift of the program, and those of us who have experienced it keep telling newcomers it's possible - sometimes they believe us, sometimes they don't. If we had to fear the presence of alcohol the rest of our lives, AA would be worthless. But by practicing the 12 Steps, we experience a psychic change in which alcohol becomes like any other comestible: we have the choice to take it or leave it, and it no longer consumes our thoughts.
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The sway of alcohol over mankind is unquestionably due to its power to stimulate the mystical faculties of human nature, usually crushed to earth by the cold facts and dry criticisms of the sober hour. ---William James
When I took my first sips of alcohol - I was afraid, so I would pretend to sip a little - then say I had to go to the bathroom, inconspicuously taking my glass with me... and dump it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To this DAY - It still bothers me all the beer I wasted that first few months before I was brave enough to actually drink a glass. I think I drank to the point of being drunk by my 3rd time drinking!!! Pretty crazy how it goes from zero - 10.
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Thanks for everything. Peace and Love on your journey.
The first time I drank at 14 years old, I raided the liquor under the sink, got wasted, threw up all over the house and passed out. 22 years later, it was pretty much the same story.
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Keep coming back. It works if you work it. So work it. You're worth it!
It's not zero-to-ten for everybody. My illness was progressive. It took me years to get to the point where I was drinking heavily every day.
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The sway of alcohol over mankind is unquestionably due to its power to stimulate the mystical faculties of human nature, usually crushed to earth by the cold facts and dry criticisms of the sober hour. ---William James
Same for me as with Q ... ... ... But after having 'pool parties' over at our house in the mid-80s, I'd go around cleaning up and find all this leftover beer in cans and cups ... and you know what happened next, yep, I drink the rest of what was left, I couldn't bare the thought of throwing it away ... Flat ??? ... who cares, I drank them anyway ... I think that's about the time I started thinking I might just have a problem ...
I don't know that I'd have lapped it up from a dirty ashtray like PC, but I probably came close ... Like PC, maybe I did and just don't remember ... LOL ... wow, we really did get sick, didn't we ???
Good share Adam ... thanks
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'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
Yes, I remember drinking the empties from parties and getting a mouthful from a can that had been used as an ashtray - lovely!
It is so great when the obsession has been lifted. I spent the evening with two friends the other night. They were drinking wine, I was drinking water, we were having a great conversation, and I had no desire to be on the wine!
Q - all I meant was that it was amazing how I went from terrified of one beer - to drinking enough to get drunk by the 3rd time.
Yes - my disease was a slow progression from there on out. I did mostly just binge drinking occasionally for years - and was able to drink 3 and stop and be the d. driver for several years until I got PTSD - at that point - I did go 0-10 and started drinking every single night to passing out. Even after that I quit for a year or two here and there, but always came back to drinking again, and after about 5 or 6 months was back to every night again. In the end - it was round the clock. I don't ever want to know what comes after that.
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Thanks for everything. Peace and Love on your journey.
Q - all I meant was that it was amazing how I went from terrified of one beer - to drinking enough to get drunk by the 3rd time.
Yes - my disease was a slow progression from there on out. I did mostly just binge drinking occasionally for years - and was able to drink 3 and stop and be the d. driver for several years until I got PTSD - at that point - I did go 0-10 and started drinking every single night to passing out. Even after that I quit for a year or two here and there, but always came back to drinking again, and after about 5 or 6 months was back to every night again. In the end - it was round the clock. I don't ever want to know what comes after that.
No ... you don't ... ... ... whatever 'Hell' you thought you went thru, it gets much, much worse ...
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'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
LOL...Mermories....light the corners of my mind. That was a gotcha for me also. I was so fixated on booze that an idle glass or bottle got my attention at all times until it no longer did because I left all drinking situations. I still fixate and have to work the program to get back to peace of mind and serenity. Return of the Normies...Didn't know many or any of those until I learned what it mean't while trying to get normal my self.
Q - all I meant was that it was amazing how I went from terrified of one beer - to drinking enough to get drunk by the 3rd time.
I hear you Tasha! I just wanted to point out that there are different experiences when it comes to alcohol consumption. It's easy for a newcomer to say, "Well, I didn't drink like that, so I must not be an alcoholic." It's important to remember that alcoholism can manifest itself in a wide variety of drinking patterns.
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The sway of alcohol over mankind is unquestionably due to its power to stimulate the mystical faculties of human nature, usually crushed to earth by the cold facts and dry criticisms of the sober hour. ---William James
It is nice not being afraid of being sober while others are drinking. That aspect of getting sober---"how can I stop while others are drinking, and what would they think!!", kept my mind sick enough to keep me drinking for a while longer!!
Alcohol is everywhere. An early sponsor told me how being afraid of alcohol was not a healthy way to live!!
It is amazing that the obsession has left because of our fellowship.......and day by day program!!
Normie friends are amazing....I did have quite a few, and I wished I could drink like them, but it was not possible!!
Leaving beer...unheard of......I remember drinking a few ashes in cans..drinking some chewing tobacco swill...once even picked up a bottle in an ally by a bar....guess what was in it!!
Insanity.......glad I'm not there today!!
