Step by Step
Sunday, May 19, 2024
” …(W)hat about the real alcoholic? He may start off as a moderate drinker; he may or may not become a continuous hard drinker; but at some stage of his drinking career he begins to lose all control of his liquor consumption, once he starts to drink.” — Alcoholics Anonymous, Third Edition, 1976, Ch 2, p 21.
Today, no searching for an excuse to deny my addiction by twisting the reference to a “real” alcoholic. If I drank only beer, how can I be an alcoholic? If I drank only on weekends or even one day a weekend, how can I be an alcoholic? If I drank only to relax or calm my nerves, how can I be an alcoholic? If I never lost a job, a spouse or partner, if I never got nailed for a DUI or spent a night in the county jail’s drunk tank, how can I be an alcoholic compared to the “real” one who drank every day, to the “real” alcoholic whose job history makes him now virtually unemployable, or to the “real” alcoholic who has been in jail so many times that he has his name engraved in the cell? Today, may I understand and finally accept that because I lost control over drinking regardless of how much or how often I drank, I am as much a “real” alcoholic as the one who now languishes in the gutter. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2024
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