SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information - View Single Post

jimhere · 03-01-2008, 09:31 AM

Along the lines of a similiar thread, I thought I'd share my experience with a few of the more popular slogans.

I know that those slogans have a deep meaning. But I didn't know that until after I had awakened spiritually.

"One Day At A Time" These days you hear it being passed off as "don't drink one day at a time, no matter what." I could not grasp this concept because I drank no matter what. And it is impossible to live in the here and now when I have not cleared away the wreckage of the past. The wreckage of the past is the wreckage of right now if it isn't cleaned up. Until I cleared away that wreckage, right now was too painful too live in and I had to drink. Plus I was terrified on the future. The first nine steps get me to now, the last three help me to stay in the now. I was asked if I wanted to stop drinking for good and for all so that I could live one day at a time.

"This too shall pass" At about six months away from my last drink, I was reaching that place where life was becoming untenable sober. All that wreckage you know, and I didn't know what to do with it. I would go to meetings and talk about how I was doing. If one more well meaning individual had said to me "this too shall pass," I was going to grab them by the throat. Because it wasn't passing. Untreated alcoholism doesn't pass, except into active alcoholism or suicide. I need a real answer, not slogans or Page 449 about acceptance being the answer. People that don't have an answer throw the slogans around so much that they've lost their meaning.

I hear people a long time away from a drink say "I know it works, but I don't know how it works." It is my responsibility to know how it works. I'm rather useless in Alcoholics Anonymous if I don't know how it works.

You see frothy emotional appeal doesn't suffice for alcoholics like me. Frothy means shallow and unsubstantial. Like I said I need a real answer. I encountered some men in whom the problem had been solved. They were properly armed with the facts about themselves as alcoholics. They knew what they were talking about. They said they an answer for me if I cared to have it and that they could show me precisely how they had recovered. They said that their lives made sense to them and their lives demonstrated that. I wanted that.

Today my life makes sense to me. I know what it is about. I can show another alcoholic precisely how I've recovered.
Jim

Big Book quotes from Alcoholics Anonymous, First Edition

03-01-2008, 09:31 AM	#1 (permalink)
jimhere Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Pugetopolis Posts: 2,392	Slogans and Cliches' Along the lines of a similiar thread, I thought I'd share my experience with a few of the more popular slogans. I know that those slogans have a deep meaning. But I didn't know that until after I had awakened spiritually. "One Day At A Time" These days you hear it being passed off as "don't drink one day at a time, no matter what." I could not grasp this concept because I drank no matter what. And it is impossible to live in the here and now when I have not cleared away the wreckage of the past. The wreckage of the past is the wreckage of right now if it isn't cleaned up. Until I cleared away that wreckage, right now was too painful too live in and I had to drink. Plus I was terrified on the future. The first nine steps get me to now, the last three help me to stay in the now. I was asked if I wanted to stop drinking for good and for all so that I could live one day at a time. "This too shall pass" At about six months away from my last drink, I was reaching that place where life was becoming untenable sober. All that wreckage you know, and I didn't know what to do with it. I would go to meetings and talk about how I was doing. If one more well meaning individual had said to me "this too shall pass," I was going to grab them by the throat. Because it wasn't passing. Untreated alcoholism doesn't pass, except into active alcoholism or suicide. I need a real answer, not slogans or Page 449 about acceptance being the answer. People that don't have an answer throw the slogans around so much that they've lost their meaning. I hear people a long time away from a drink say "I know it works, but I don't know how it works." It is my responsibility to know how it works. I'm rather useless in Alcoholics Anonymous if I don't know how it works. You see frothy emotional appeal doesn't suffice for alcoholics like me. Frothy means shallow and unsubstantial. Like I said I need a real answer. I encountered some men in whom the problem had been solved. They were properly armed with the facts about themselves as alcoholics. They knew what they were talking about. They said they an answer for me if I cared to have it and that they could show me precisely how they had recovered. They said that their lives made sense to them and their lives demonstrated that. I wanted that. Today my life makes sense to me. I know what it is about. I can show another alcoholic precisely how I've recovered. Jim Big Book quotes from Alcoholics Anonymous, First Edition