Thursday, June 13, 2024

June 13, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Thursday, June 13, 2024

“(Alcoholics) have one symptom in common: they cannot start drinking without developing the phenomenon of craving. This phenomenon …may be the manifestation of an allergy which differentiates these people, and sets them apart as a distinct entity. It has never been …permanently eradicated. The only relief we have to suggest is entire abstinence.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, “The Doctor’s Opinion,” p xxviii.

Todayno illusion that I can ever again drink responsibly. The risk is too high, the costs potentially lethal. I will not try “just one” or attempt “controlled” drinking with the myth or desperate thought that I can go back to the thing that ravaged me physically, emotionally and spiritually — alcohol. If the physician is right that we as problem drinkers have a craving for alcohol, any amount of it is paramount to a relapse from which I might not return. Today, I accept that I am an alcoholic, that I cannot play the game of by-passing that fact and, in so doing, I refuse to fuel the craving. Today, I have a choice: I will not drink. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2024

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