How It Works....(kinda Long Post)

Alcohol
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...found in the book "Alcoholics Anonymous" also referred to as the "Big Book" ~ hopefully, this is helpful to those of you still struggling or even if you are not:

Alcoholics Anonymous

Page 33, More About Alcoholism, Chapter 3 (Alcoholics Anonymous)

This case contains a powerful lesson. Most
of us have believed that if we remained sober for a long
stretch, we could thereafter drink normally. But here is a man who at
fifty-five years found he was just where he had left off at
thirty. We have seen the truth demonstrated again and again: Once
an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. Commencing to drink
after a period of sobriety, we are in a short time as bad as
ever. If we are planning to stop drinking, there must be no
reservation of any kind, nor any lurking notion that someday we will be immune
to alcohol.

Young people may be encouraged by
this mans experience to think that they can stop, as he
did, on their own will power. We doubt if many of them can do
it, because none will really want to stop, and hardly one of
them, because of the peculiar mental twist already acquired, will find he
can win out. Several of our crowd, men of thirty or less, had been
drinking only a few years, but they found themselves as
helpless as those who had been drinking twenty years.

Alcoholics Anonymous Pages 5-6, Part of Bills Story (one of the co-founders of AA), Chapter 1

I woke up. This had to be stopped. I saw I could not take so much as one drink. I was through forever. Before then, I had written lots of
sweet promises, but my wife happily observed that this time I meant
business. And so I did.

Shortly afterward I came home drunk. There
had been no fight. Where had been my high resolve? I
simply didnt know. It hadnt even come to mind.
Someone had pushed a drink my way, and I had taken it. Was I crazy?
I began to wonder, for such an appalling lack of perspective
seemed near being just that.

Renewing my resolve, I tried again. Some
time passed, and confidence began to be replaced by
I could laugh at the gin mills. Now I had what it takes! One
day I walked into a cafe to telephone. In no time I was
beating on the bar asking myself how it happened. As the whisky rose
to my head I told myself I would manage better next time, but
I might as well get good and drunk then. And I did.
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Good post, I enjoyed reading it. Are you the oldest in your family? You seem to be everybody's "big sister" I think that is cool....

Bye for now, Cookster
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Thanks VWGIRL, Sounds like me. Somewhere inside I beleived that I could control my drinking. That if enough time passed I could drink like a normal person. I can also testify that it doesn't work. It starts right where I left off. God knows I've tested it over & over again. I can't even count how many times as I lost track. Each time I try & fool myself it just gets worse! I'm at the jumping off point. I'm defeated I've lost the battle. It's time to surrender. It's time for me to face the facts. It's time for me to accept the fact that I can't drink without getting really really super drunk. It's time for me to begin to live. Maybe someone could start a thread moving out of denial. Thanks for reminding me once an Alcoholic always an Alcoholic. Chris
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I think it is really interesting to hear other peoples experiences with alcohol. Myself I always knew that I drank excessively but thought that everyone did this. The concept that I could control my drinking simply never entered my head. I was an all or nothing sort of person. Coming from an alcoholic home I guess I had nothing to measure what normal drinking was like. Drinking was done in the extreme in my home life and then I went straight into the pubs where extreme drinking was being partaken in there too. Nothing was going to stop me from drinking but drinking itself. It was not until I had suffered enough particularly through incomprehesible demoralisation, that I was ready to take the actions required to stay sober. I heard a woman share from the floor of a meeting last night and she was a powerful speaker. She was 31yrs sober and had been sober since she was 17yrs old. She is now 48yrs (approx). Wow what a journey she has been on. She has been dealt some severe blows in life but managed to stay sober. She came into aa in a time when there were very few young people in aa and so had I. In those days coffee and tea were served in cups and saucers not the plastic cups or polystirene cups as they are today. There were very few rehabs in those days so withdrawal from alcohol was done in meetings. It was not uncommon to see someone take an alcoholic siezure in the rooms. The older sober members would carry small flasks of alcohol to give to the newcomer to bring them down and assist with the withdrawal process. Things were done much differently then than they are today. I am so glad to be free from the obsession to drink. thats me

Fi
xxx
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Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your posts....

Starting a thread about coming out of denial would be good....

Yes, I am the oldest in my family.......I really feel like my younger sister is more mature than me emotionally though........I really lean on her at times, and did so very much when I was out there using and drinking...and in early sobriety, I slept on her love seat for about 2 and 1/2 months or so......shaking it out, sweating it out, and not sleeping much at all...she was there for me...but I take it as a compliment, so thank you!

Fi,

Once again, I got a lot out of your post, I tried to get sober in the mid-eighties and can remember when people could smoke in the rooms....and wet drunks when come in...I guess with rehabs now, we are not exposed to as many wet drunks.
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Great posts here, just wanted to say thanks for what I just read. Remaining teachable is how I wanna always remain. Today has been one of those days where no matter where I turned I've picked up something from someone. It started at the noon meeting I went to today, through the course of the rest of the day, and now here. Thanks again.

Take care,
Bob