Greatest enemies of alcoholics are.......

[nandm]

What are the greatest enemies of the alcoholic?

Do you agree with what the Big Book says about the alcoholic's greatest enemy in the chapter To Employers?

What has your experience been in dealing with these enemies?

How do we as recovering alcoholics deal with these enemies?

What Steps do you feel help relieve these enemies in your life?

What do you do when faced with these things in your day to day life?

The greatest enemies of we alcoholics are resentment, jealousy, envy, frustration, and fear. (from the chapter To Employers)

My thoughts and experience with these enemies is that I have specific tools for dealing with these troubles.

The Third Step does much to alleviate my feelings of frustration.
By deciding to turn my will and life over to the care of my HP, my frustration with troubles in my life are eased because I no longer need to worry about how I am going to run my life. All I need to do is keep it simple by putting one foot in front of the other, apply the Steps in all aspects of my life, and trust that my HP will lead me in the direction I am supposed to go.

The Fourth Step taught me how to deal successfully with resentment and fear.
By making a searching and fearless moral inventory of myself I am able to face the things that I have feared and kept hidden for so long; allowing them to eat away at my soul and build into resentments toward others. Rather like taking a poison to punish someone for what "they did to me" when all the while they likely have no clue they "did anything" at all. The inventory frees me from those fears by bringing them into the light of day and taking the power out of them. I no longer need to hide as I am able to identify my part in the things that fed my resentments and fears releasing their hold on me. When I do this on a daily basis I prevent new resentments from building which allows me to live in this life without fear of being found out, being hurt, etc...

I find relief from jealousy and envy in steps Seven and Nine.
When I approach my HP in a humble manner and ask that I be relieved of my shortcomings I concentrate on my part in life, my side of the street. When I am concerned and taking care of my side of the street I don't have time to worry about what someone else has which in turn helps to prevent jealousy and envy from building.
The humbling experience of making direct amends to those I have injured helps prevent my ego's ugly head from rearing. When my ego gets out of hand, I stop concentrating on what the next right thing for me to do is and start worrying about what others "aren't doing" that I think they should be doing. This allows jealousy and envy to arise as I start to feel that others have things I do not feel they deserve or that I deserve more. When I actively work these steps in my life I am able to keep myself centered on what my part in life and any problems leaving no room for me to get caught up in what others are doing.

[IO Storm]

I agree 100 per cent nan...

*Lol* It seems to me you've covered the bases..I kept reading to find a

response to add...

I do have something..

Step Ten

The good old spot check inventory and the nightly go over.

Can't go on to the next step or the day without it.

Step Eleven

Prayer and Meditation is a huge part of my daily life.

I find a quiet place in the afternoon (so fortunate to have this now)

to just clear everything away and listen to the still small voice.

"Conscious contact"...things seem to fall into perspective...I am shown

my part in situations..and "see" a bird's eye view of matters that

baffled or confused me before. Then, I pray to the God of my understanding,

turn it all over again..let go absolutely with complete care and abandon

and usually fall asleep with a deep peace.

Thanks for this wonderful post!

[nandm]

Originally Posted by IO Storm

Step Ten

The good old spot check inventory and the nightly go over.

Can't go on to the next step or the day without it.

Step Eleven

Prayer and Meditation is a huge part of my daily life.

I find a quiet place in the afternoon (so fortunate to have this now)

to just clear everything away and listen to the still small voice......

Thanks for the input. Your comment about the quiet place made me laugh for a minute with the memory of where my quiet place was at work for a while. I used to utilize the bathroom at work as my quiet play throughout the day. There were days when I was in there so much trying to find peace and quiet and a contact with my HP that I wonder if people thought I had diarrhea or something.

[Peter]

The greatest enemies of we alcoholics are resentment, jealousy, envy, frustration, and fear.

-Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book


My own experiences with alcoholism has convinced me that there is a fair amount of accuracy in this statement.

[IO Storm]

I wonder if people thought I had diarrhea or something.

*Lol*

But we are willing to go to any lengths....

[bob_sapp]

Originally Posted by Peter

-Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book


My own experiences with alcoholism has convinced me that there is a fair amount of accuracy in this statement.

I would add loneliness to complete the list.

[IO Storm]

H ungry

A ngry

L onely

T ired

Great insight....how did I miss that? duh IO.

[Tazman53]

Well my first thought when I just read the Topic name was secrets and resentments, but it looks as though Nandm as ususal has covered the topic well. Thanks.

[dancinggirl]

My greatest enemy is happiness, oddly enough. I didn't drink to help in times of stress...but to celebrate happy times. Pretty screwed up, as the more sober I get, the happier I am...and that leads me back to wanting to drink.

[Tazman53]

My greatest enemy is happiness, oddly enough. I didn't drink to help in times of stress...but to celebrate happy times. Pretty screwed up, as the more sober I get, the happier I am...and that leads me back to wanting to drink.

LOL I had to laugh at that, not at you, but at myself, I can so relate to what you said there, years before I got into AA and got sober I used to go for a a few days to a week without a drink and be so happy being sober I would drink to celebrate sobriety!!! Once I got into AA I had learned that in order to stay sober I had to not drink! LOL Makes sense now.

[RufusACanal]

Excellent thread Judith!

..the greatest enemy is SELF.

[CarolD]

Hmm..
Drinking alcohol was my primary enemy.

Once I started to win over alcohol
I could then address my other issues by using the Steps.

I realize that my opinion is not by the book AA
however it is what I believe.

No necessary ...
I'm living in serene recovery with joy.

[lizw]

Originally Posted by nandm

I used to utilize the bathroom at work as my quiet play throughout the day. There were days when I was in there so much trying to find peace and quiet and a contact with my HP that I wonder if people thought I had diarrhea or something.

A few years ago I was on a creative writing course and the classroom turned into like a therapy group with everybody writing confessions about being sexually abused by someone in their family, dying relatives and hardships. As we all know, writing and sharing can be away to release/get over things.

However, it drove me round the friggin twist. If I wanted that kind of thing I would have gone back to the treatment centre I was in. It especially drove me mad when students began to debate particulars of their own expereinces etc...

So let's just say I spent a lot of time in the bathroom too repeating the 3rd step prayer over and over.....

[AW2486]

For me its FEAR..

Nothing else can paralyze me more than FEAR.

Nice thread.

[Toomutch]

Stress and anxiety

[laurie6781]

I would like to add................................

EGO

In early sobriety my Ego was my biggest enemy long before I became aware of my resentments, jealousies, envy, frustrations, and fears.

In those early days, my EGO with its: "I don't need these people." "I can do this myself." "I'm not like them." etc etc rofl but thankfully the unconditional love in the rooms and from my sponsor and the house mother at the Recovery Home for Alcoholic Women and many others helped keep me right where I was suppose to be, and especially as those 'emotions' started to surface as the numbness I had lived in for 24 years subsided.

Whew what a roller coaster.

Like Carol, what got me centered and has kept me centered ever since was first working and then living the 12 steps of AA One Day At A Time.

Those ODAATs do mount up!!!!!!

J M H O

Love and hugs,

[Dean62]

"poor pity me"

Somebody had to say it.