DayTrader

Just had to re-state that one. There are hundreds of reasons why we picked up but, if you're an alcoholic, the reasons really are meaningless. THAT we drank and could not stop once we started and, when we stopped couldn't seem to stay stopped (in spite of wanting to stay stopped) are the issues to be looked at.

I have a good friend who's been in a wheelchair for around 25 years or more. He can study, research, understand and discuss all he wants about the particulars of the accident he was in, why he turned his motorcycle the way he did vs turning another way, what bones were broken, what neural pathways were severed, etc etc etc..... but none of that changes the fact that he's IN a chair NOW and will be for the rest of his life.

THAT he's in the chair and how to deal with it is infinitely more important to how he's going to live his life today and from here on out than WHY. That he has to find a way to drive to work, get into an office, use the bathroom, etc etc is what to deal with today....and the "why's" are irrelevant.


I say this because, IF you're an alcoholic, THAT you are is so much more important than WHY you are - right now. Deal with the problem at hand and then go back all you want and research the why's. Don't sell this illness short....it's a bad mother and it'll take you down big time if it's ignored. "Why" can become an exercise in futility as well as a way to ignore/put-off dealing with the problems at hand right now.

In the AA book (which is not only Bill W's opinion/experience but that of the first 100 recovered AA's who proof-read, modified and contributed to the text) it mentions over and over that self knowledge will do nothing to "fix" alcoholism. Heck, Roland Hazard studied for a full year under Dr Jung (one of the preeminent psychiatrists on the planet at the time - second only to Freud) yet within a week or two of his leaving Dr. Jung with more knowledge and information than any of us is likely able to acquire on our own.......he was drunk again.

So, the REAL reason I drank isn't because I got a raise, or didn't get one, got fired or didn't, got a great girl in my life or didn't, played well on the golf course, or didn't.......etc etc etc..... the deepest reason of all is: I DRANK BECAUSE I'M AN ALCOHOLIC (and didn't even know it at the time).