intention

I don't think the destructiveness in someone's life from alcohol is really relevent. I listened to a share just recently by someone who was arrested and committed to a mental health hospital and said that he was in such despair that he threatened the doctor that if they didn't give him something to take away the feeling he would drive his head into the brick wall. And he meant it.

I knew exactly what he felt that day because I felt the same. I wasn't arrested nor committed to a mental hospital but I felt like that when I sat at my kitchen table the morning after my last drink.

In AA we encourage people to look for the similarities rather than the differences in other people's sharing. The applies to both their drinking and their recovery.

Similarities and differences may only seem like two words.............but an alcoholic choosing to look at one or the other, literally chooses between life or death.

For a long time I looked for differences and couldn't accept my alcoholism. I nearly died because of it.

And yes, my recovery is progressive. I actively ensure it is. I am very much aware that all the time I am recovered, my alcoholism is also progressive. If I ever were to pick up a drink again, it would be far worse than the hell it was before, and that nearly killed me.

Great discussion, thanks.