View Single Post
Old 02-11-2016, 06:18 AM
  # 24 (permalink)  
OpenTuning
Member
 
OpenTuning's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 507
My feeling on this is that yes, your life has improved dramatically from where you were. When you first started posting your drinking was completely out of control, and even after your accident you were in near complete denial that you had a problem. The fact you were even aware enough of the issue to find this site seemed like a small miracle.

And now you're writing things like Dee just quoted, about how damaging alcohol is to you. So yes, that is big progress.

But I think there's an underlying aspect to why you started this thread, and that is a feeling that you aren't getting the respect and approval that this progress deserves. For example, people who have gone 2 weeks since their last drink usually get huge amounts of congratulations and encouragement. Everyone here knows how tough that is. But in this thread only two people have congratulated you on that without reservations, the rest have raised questions about the progress you've made in one way or another. So why is that? I totally get how that probably doesn't seem fair to you.

So here's why I think that is.

I think it's down to none of us knowing what it is you want to achieve. And that probably includes you. I personally wouldn't be remotely surprised if tomorrow you posted that friends came over with a vintage Bordeaux they'd bought on holiday in France 20 years ago, and how proud you are that you only had one glass, and how you only had that because it would have been disrespectful to your friends if you had turned it down.

And I genuinely don't know if you'd see that as a relapse, a slip, or further proof of your success and progress. I really don't.

And that makes it hard for me to know whether you've made progress or not, because many of us believe that once a problem drinker, always a problem drinker, and the more special occasions you have where you drink a small amount, the more likely those occasions will get more frequent, and the amounts will get larger. Because that's how alcoholism works. Many of us don't believe in moderation the same way many of us don't believe in Santa Clause. Much as we'd love to believe in both

What your goal is, and the journey to get there, is of course your choice. And the only one who can say what kind of progress you're making to getting there, is you. But I'm hoping you can at least understand why some of us are reacting a bit like Sancho Panza watching Don Quixote charging off towards a windmill. We may admire the effort and enthusiasm, but have serious doubts about what you're actually trying to achieve.
OpenTuning is offline