Lushly.
My experience was that I could not stop drinking, no matter how hard I tried.
There was nothing that could stop me-- children, wife, job. Each time I'd cross the line.
I was powerless over alcohol.
When you are powerless, you need to find power. Clearly, that power does not exist in you. You can't try harder. 0 times 10 is still 0.
Abandon willpower. It simply does not work for the chronic alcoholic.
I had to redirect my efforts from trying not to drink to trying to find a power that could help me not drink.
In that desperation, I turned to the steps of AA, which are designed to bring us to a God of our understanding. You do not need to believe, you just need to take the action.
It's listening, writing, listening to direction, and writing. And through that process, we begin to demystify our disease, stop the self-loathing, and make contact with a power that relieves the drink problem.
It works.