More about alcoholism

There were times in our drinking careers when we were convinced that all we had to do to control our drinking was to quit after the second drink, or fifth or some other number. Only gradually did we come to appreciate that it was not the fifth or the tenth drink that got us drunk; it was the first! The first drink was the one that did the damage. The first drink was the one that started us on the merry-go-rounds. The first drink was the one that set up a chain reaction of alcoholic thinking that led to our uncontrolled drinking.

Another thing that many of us learned during our drinking days was that enforced sobriety was generally not a very pleasant experience. Some of us were able to stay sober, occasionally, for periods of days, weeks and even years. But we did not enjoy our sobriety. We felt like martyrs. We became irritable, difficult to live and work with. We persisted in looking forward to the time when we might be able to drink again.

Now that we are in in A.A., we have a new outlook on sobriety. We enjoy a sense of release, a feeling of freedom from even the desire to drink. Since we cannot expect to drink normally at any time in the future, we concentrate on living a full life without alcohol today . There is not a thing we can do about yesterday. And tomorrow never comes. Today is the only day we have to worry about. And we know from experience that even the worst drunk can go for 24 hours without a drink.

When we first heard about A.A. it seemed miraculous that anyone who had really been an uncontrolled drinker could ever achieve and maintain the kind of sobriety that older A.A. members talked about. Some of us were inclined to think that ours was a special kind of drinking, that our experiences had been different, that A.A. might work for others but could do nothing for us. Others among us, that had not yet been hurt seriously by our drinking, reasoned that A.A. might be fine for down and out drunks but we could probably handle the situation by ourselves.

Our experience in A.A. has taught us two important things. First, that the basic problems confronting the alcoholic are the same whether he is scrounging for the price of a beer or holding down an executive position in a big undertaking. Secondly, we now appreciate that the A.A. recovery programme works for almost any alcoholic, no matter what his background or particular drinking pattern may have been



Home