Originally Posted by
Gottalife 
Something seems to happen when we take it slowly with the steps. We start at a desperate point but life begins to get better. The pressure comes off, we lose that desperation. Steps like five look more and more challenging, the more comfortable we get. Why suffer the pain of going through it if we can avoid it? And it begins to look like we can avoid it. And maybe we can. The only way we find out otherwise is if a drink appears in our hands.
This is what happened to me...not once but twice. Both times life improved just by putting down the drink. Both times the fellowship buoyed me up. Both times I drifted away from meetings over time. Both times I went several years without relapsing. Both times I ended up drunk again. Both times I did nothing proactive to treat my alcoholism outside of attending meetings.