Gottalife

Well, yeah. Millions of people over history have stopped drinking that way. They just wake up one morning and realise - that's it, no more!

It works for most problem drinkers but it does not work for alcoholics of my type. I found I could not stop no matter how great the wish. I had a million good reasons, not one with sufficent power to stop. Lack of power was my dilemna.

In a way this is what step 2 in the AA program is about. Finding a path or method that will fix the problem. Self reliance is always the first stop, and most people will succeed with that.

Some will believe there is some outside circumstance that is causing their problem, so they will make many changes. Jobs, girlfriends, towns, only to find that the problem persists regardless. Next comes the professionals and many will succeed in that. It can be a pretty long list.

Some of us in AA call it step zero, where you work through this list ticking off all the things that didn't work. Most of us have to find this out for ourselves. Rare indeed is the alcoholic can just up and start learning from someone elses mistakes.

But there comes a point where we run out of options. There is nothing left in the way of human aid available, and our own self reliance has let us down completely. Lack of power. So the only thing left is to consoder if we are willing to believe that a power greater than ourselves, the same power that helped those other folks in AA, could work for me too. Am I willing to entertain the possibility. Not a pleasant spot to find oneself in. It is the essence of what "being done" means. Am I done with my way, am I willing to try some ideas other than my own?