Just for Today
Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013
"We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics. This is the first step in recovery. We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control. All of us felt at times that we were regaining control, but such intervals - usually brief - were inevitably followed by still less control, which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization. We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our type are in the grip of a progressive illness. Over any considerable period, we get worse, never better." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 3 ("More About Alcoholism"), p 30.
Just for today, conceding to "our innermost selves" that we are alcoholic is the first step in recovery. Without that admission, every subsequent attempt to curtail drinking much less stop is doomed to failure: our private drinking histories are mute testament to that. But if we can finally admit to ourselves that we are alcoholic, the answer to the next logical question - Why do I have to quit altogether instead of cutting back? - is obvious: alcoholism is a progressive condition that is never cured and, when fed, gets worse. But the illness can be arrested, and the only guaranteed method to date is total abstinence. Today, if I still struggle that the drinking problem I clearly have has progressed into alcoholism, I have to retreat within my innermost self in absolute honesty and, if I acknowledge the obvious answer, AA and its Program of Steps and Principles awaits me, just for the asking. And our common journey continues. Just for today. - Chris M., 2013
Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013
"We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics. This is the first step in recovery. We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control. All of us felt at times that we were regaining control, but such intervals - usually brief - were inevitably followed by still less control, which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization. We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our type are in the grip of a progressive illness. Over any considerable period, we get worse, never better." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 3 ("More About Alcoholism"), p 30.
Just for today, conceding to "our innermost selves" that we are alcoholic is the first step in recovery. Without that admission, every subsequent attempt to curtail drinking much less stop is doomed to failure: our private drinking histories are mute testament to that. But if we can finally admit to ourselves that we are alcoholic, the answer to the next logical question - Why do I have to quit altogether instead of cutting back? - is obvious: alcoholism is a progressive condition that is never cured and, when fed, gets worse. But the illness can be arrested, and the only guaranteed method to date is total abstinence. Today, if I still struggle that the drinking problem I clearly have has progressed into alcoholism, I have to retreat within my innermost self in absolute honesty and, if I acknowledge the obvious answer, AA and its Program of Steps and Principles awaits me, just for the asking. And our common journey continues. Just for today. - Chris M., 2013
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