UncleMeat69

Early in sobriety I was told that PAID means:

P = Pitiful

A = And

I = Incomprehensible

D = Demoralization

So alcoholics pay this price through the years as their illness destroys
their lives to the point that they seek help.

When they arrive in AA they are told "There are no dues or fees for AA membership."
So alky's have a pre-paid ticket to Alcoholics Anonymous membership. What more could any drunk ask for ?

Tommyh

my 3rd sponsor used to be asked to give out chips a lot.
He used to hold up the white one and say
you`ve already paid the price for this one,but you have to earn the rest.


yep,we have paid a high price for our seats in AA
I don`t want to give mine up

Threshold

I have never come across this anacronym before. I know HALT and FINE, but not PAID

Veritas1

To me, it defines the insanity of drinking again, after having every need to stop.

When I let myself down after promising to never drink again...

Veritas1

"MOST OF US have been unwilling to admit we were real alcoholics. No person likes to think he is bodily and mentally different from his fellows. Therefore, it is not surprising that our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people. The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.

We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics. This is the first step in recovery. The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to be smashed.

We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking. We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control. All of us felt at times that we were regaining control, but such intervals—usually brief—were inevitably followed by still less control, which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization. We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our type are in the grip of a progressive illness. Over any considerable period we get worse, never better."

More About Alcoholism, Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 3