Weird question....
LKKPA
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 23
Weird question....
Ok...am on day 120 and have been doing pretty good thus far. I am going to AA meetings, meeting with my sponsor, working out at the gym and have lost 11#. I also have a job interview tomorrow and am working at getting my medical license back. My current problem is whenever I attend AA meetings or meet with my sponsor or work on the steps (I'm currently on step 2), I start craving a drink. It's when Im not at a meeting or doing any recovery related activities I don't think about alcohol at all. My sick mind wants to rationalize and convince me that I don't need these recovery activities because they only make me think of drinking but I know that if I stop my recovery activities that I will eventually relapse. I just wanted to know if meetings, sponsors and doing the steps are a trigger for others. If so, how do I get beyond this? I know I need to attend meetings and work the steps but they cause me to start thinking about drinking and when I don't I seem to be fine. So confused.....all I know is that I don't want to relapse and will continue to do everything that I know I should. Seems to be a bump in the road for me and a double edge sword. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!!
Don't resist, allow
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: South East of England
Posts: 1,521
Hi, well done on 120 days and going to meetings and working with your sponsor.
According to the Big Book this is not a craving for drink. This disease of alcoholism is made up for a physical craving in the body and a mental obsession. If you are at step 2 you would have read about this in the Dr's Opinion.
The physical craving of the body is removed quite quickly and easily in a matter of days of being sober. It will only appear again if we take the first sip of alcohol back into our body and then the cravings start and will be overwhelming. This is why the advice is to always stay away from the first drink.
What you are experiencing is the mental obsession to drink. This is very different and cannot be removed by quitting drinking. This obsession of the mind tells us to drink even when the body doesn't need it. It tells us to drink when we are least expecting it. It is "cunning, baffling and powerful" to the point it will tell us to drink even when we are doing lots to keep ourselves sober.
The only way that I was able to remove this mental obsession to drink was working all the Steps. It promises us in the Big Book at Step 10 that "the problem has been removed" - p84-85
If you are like me then the only way to get beyond this is to work all the Steps.
The longer you stay where you are you are, you are fighting this obsession of the mind on will-power and will-power will eventually run out.
You need a Power greater than your own will-power so you can recover from this mental obsession. I would suggest you speak to your sponsor and look to working through the rest of the steps thoroughly......but quickly.
Good luck.
Originally Posted by LKKPA 
My current problem is whenever I attend AA meetings or meet with my sponsor or work on the steps (I'm currently on step 2), I start craving a drink.
The physical craving of the body is removed quite quickly and easily in a matter of days of being sober. It will only appear again if we take the first sip of alcohol back into our body and then the cravings start and will be overwhelming. This is why the advice is to always stay away from the first drink.
What you are experiencing is the mental obsession to drink. This is very different and cannot be removed by quitting drinking. This obsession of the mind tells us to drink even when the body doesn't need it. It tells us to drink when we are least expecting it. It is "cunning, baffling and powerful" to the point it will tell us to drink even when we are doing lots to keep ourselves sober.
The only way that I was able to remove this mental obsession to drink was working all the Steps. It promises us in the Big Book at Step 10 that "the problem has been removed" - p84-85
I just wanted to know if meetings, sponsors and doing the steps are a trigger for others. If so, how do I get beyond this?
The longer you stay where you are you are, you are fighting this obsession of the mind on will-power and will-power will eventually run out.
You need a Power greater than your own will-power so you can recover from this mental obsession. I would suggest you speak to your sponsor and look to working through the rest of the steps thoroughly......but quickly.
Good luck.
totfit
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Ft Collins, CO
Posts: 1,273
There is a saying in AA and possibly other places about, "focus on the solution and not the problem". Unfortunately, while there is a lot of solution talk in meetings one can't help but focus somewhat on the problem. There is a view inside the room, that those "outside" not in recovery are "sick". The reality is that no recovery takes place in meeting it is all outside that recovery takes place. AA is not a requirement in any way shape or form to stay sober. There are sober, healthy people everywhere. I have seen very good examples and activities outside the rooms and there is not talk or constant bombardment with the "problem". I think it would behoove anyone whether they participate in AA or not to find recovery at the Gym, in nature, in community groups, political or social groups, volunteer groups, etc. You are not alone in having problems with AA meetings. I think for those that benefit AA is great, but if there is a problem then one might look for another solution. Don't drink and LIVE a full healthy life is the big secret to staying sober and it can be found anywhere. I find healthy behavior I can emulate everywhere. The only behavior I can't do is drink socially, so I don't.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 26,425
I'm looking at step 2 today...
just a thought....step one is prettty overwhelming in it's realization of just how bad things were, and just how unmanageable are our emotional natures and our lives....it leaves me in powerlessness and that is something that leads me to want to fix it with a drink....
Step 2 puts me between a rock and a hard place....hopless...but not yet able to believe.....
It seems to me that it would be natural for me to want to drink to excape the delima I am in....I've had that obsessive thought pop up a few times this last week, followed closely by the realization that I cannot face life with or without alchohol...that I truely need this power I can't seem to get to.....
I think that for me, continuing on the path of the steps will relieve the desire to stop the unmanagability with a drink.....THAT i can have faith in...
I have had times like you are describing but yep...i quit going to meetings, sponsoring, etc...and eventually although many years down the road...i returned to alchohol to fix what was wrong with me instead of returning to the steps....
Hope you just hang in there and keep pluggin away with your sponsor!
just a thought....step one is prettty overwhelming in it's realization of just how bad things were, and just how unmanageable are our emotional natures and our lives....it leaves me in powerlessness and that is something that leads me to want to fix it with a drink....
Step 2 puts me between a rock and a hard place....hopless...but not yet able to believe.....
It seems to me that it would be natural for me to want to drink to excape the delima I am in....I've had that obsessive thought pop up a few times this last week, followed closely by the realization that I cannot face life with or without alchohol...that I truely need this power I can't seem to get to.....
I think that for me, continuing on the path of the steps will relieve the desire to stop the unmanagability with a drink.....THAT i can have faith in...
I have had times like you are describing but yep...i quit going to meetings, sponsoring, etc...and eventually although many years down the road...i returned to alchohol to fix what was wrong with me instead of returning to the steps....
Hope you just hang in there and keep pluggin away with your sponsor!
LKKPA
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 23
Wow!! Thanks so much everyone for the input. I will keep plugging on because the alternative is not acceptable to me. I am so glad I found this site and am grateful for all the people who are willing to share their experiences. Gives one hope!!
Guest
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Mpls, Mn
Posts: 55
Totfit,
Let me start by saying that AA claims no monopoly on the means of recovery from alcoholism, and has no desire to quarrel with those who do not see a need in their life for our solution.
However, your post contains statements that I challenge as inaccurate and unsupported.
This is a straw man, an attempt to put words in someone else's mouth. It's done with weasel words, specifically the use of the deceptive passive voice: whose view? stated when and how? and your documentation is...?
The view of the medical profession is that alcoholism is a chronic, progressive, life threatening disorder. From the Medline Plus website:
MedlinePlus: Medical Dictionary
Main Entry: al·co·hol·ism
Pronunciation: \ˈal-kə-ˌhȯ-ˌliz-əm, -kə-hə-\
Function: noun
1 : continued excessive or compulsive use of alcoholic drinks
2 a : poisoning by alcohol b : a chronic progressive potentially fatal psychological and nutritional disorder associated with excessive and usually compulsive drinking of ethanol and characterized by frequent intoxication leading to dependence on or addiction to the substance, impairment of the ability to work and socialize, destructive behaviors (as drunken driving), tissue damage (as cirrhosis of the liver), and severe withdrawal symptoms upon detoxification
<end quotation>
Therefore: if you have a chronic disease, you are sick, in the rooms or out of them, drinking or dry. The disease does not go away any more than diabetes, lupus, asthma, or herpes does. AA presents a means of arresting the progress of the illness.
Then later in your post, you admit that AA is great "for those who benefit".
So which is it? Do people benefit from AA or not? If they benefit, on what basis can you say where they benefit? You claim to know the reality of where recovery occurs and how for others. I call Baloney. If you want credibility, speak for yourself only.
In summary: I assert that you are setting up a straw man argument about what AA teaches, trying to imply that AA's view themselves as healthy, and others as "sick", in a negative perjorative sense. I say AA conforms to the view of modern scientific medicine in it's understanding of alcoholism.
I say that your statements about when, where, and if people benefit from AA make no sense because you contradict yourself.
If you have a good life free of alcohol, you have my congratulations. In any event, you have my sincere best wishes for your good health and well being. If you think you have an answer others will be interested in, I challenge you to set up your own organization, show the results, and withstand the independent scrutiny that AA has.
Let me start by saying that AA claims no monopoly on the means of recovery from alcoholism, and has no desire to quarrel with those who do not see a need in their life for our solution.
However, your post contains statements that I challenge as inaccurate and unsupported.
Originally Posted by totfit
There is a view inside the room, that those "outside" not in recovery are "sick".
The view of the medical profession is that alcoholism is a chronic, progressive, life threatening disorder. From the Medline Plus website:
MedlinePlus: Medical Dictionary
Main Entry: al·co·hol·ism
Pronunciation: \ˈal-kə-ˌhȯ-ˌliz-əm, -kə-hə-\
Function: noun
1 : continued excessive or compulsive use of alcoholic drinks
2 a : poisoning by alcohol b : a chronic progressive potentially fatal psychological and nutritional disorder associated with excessive and usually compulsive drinking of ethanol and characterized by frequent intoxication leading to dependence on or addiction to the substance, impairment of the ability to work and socialize, destructive behaviors (as drunken driving), tissue damage (as cirrhosis of the liver), and severe withdrawal symptoms upon detoxification
<end quotation>
Therefore: if you have a chronic disease, you are sick, in the rooms or out of them, drinking or dry. The disease does not go away any more than diabetes, lupus, asthma, or herpes does. AA presents a means of arresting the progress of the illness.
Originally Posted by totfit
The reality is that no recovery takes place in meeting it is all outside that recovery takes place. AA is not a requirement in any way shape or form to stay sober.
So which is it? Do people benefit from AA or not? If they benefit, on what basis can you say where they benefit? You claim to know the reality of where recovery occurs and how for others. I call Baloney. If you want credibility, speak for yourself only.
In summary: I assert that you are setting up a straw man argument about what AA teaches, trying to imply that AA's view themselves as healthy, and others as "sick", in a negative perjorative sense. I say AA conforms to the view of modern scientific medicine in it's understanding of alcoholism.
I say that your statements about when, where, and if people benefit from AA make no sense because you contradict yourself.
If you have a good life free of alcohol, you have my congratulations. In any event, you have my sincere best wishes for your good health and well being. If you think you have an answer others will be interested in, I challenge you to set up your own organization, show the results, and withstand the independent scrutiny that AA has.
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