Originally Posted by
Fandy 
I truly dislike those cliché sayings and derogatory terms, i.e. white knuckles, dry drunk, blah blah blah, oh take the cotton out of your ears, put it in your mouth. We are NOT little children, we are adults that are taking control of our addictions...(I do not use the word disease either. I reserve that one for my brother's cancer that has a less than 25% survival rate)
my best efforts have gotten me sober and not drinking...this is my reality. My best thinking has gotten me sober.
That's kind of where I am. I sort of feel like the "best efforts got us here" saying is somehow framing seeking support for sobriety as some kind of personal defeat. I refuse to look at it that way. I see my pursuit of support for sobriety as a celebration of life and a 53-day-and-counting personal victory for me. My "best efforts" have gotten me sober and changing my life, not addicted and defeated.
Also, I agree with what Nonsensical said about the "half measures" saying - I also disagree there too - half measures often availed me plenty, the problem was those half measures just weren't enough, so my approach in the end needed to be optimized into its current form, e.g., I need to be pursuing sobriety as opposed to just pursuing moderation, or cutting out just particular substances, behaviors, or etc. as opposed to others. That just didn't work in the end, but it availed me "nothing"? Nope.
Such is the value of clichés.