Anything Positive??
Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Texas
Posts: 478
The things you list as positives (mundane things seeming exciting, movies enlightening, energy, positive outlook, self esteem) are the very things alcohol insiduously took from me, and replaced with a shallow substitute that I mistook for the real thing-- Wasn't until sobriety that I realized the depth and richness that was missing in the small details of my life.
Alcohol steals Presence and Real Moments. Life.
Alcohol steals Presence and Real Moments. Life.
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Bethlehem, PA.
Posts: 1,781
What I viewed as a positive was the altered state of consciousness. The initial warm glow and relief from inhibitions and worries was the relief I always sought out. We all know how short lived that is and how quickly it turns on you.
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Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Dallas, Tx
Posts: 2,405
Great story Super! Glad you made it home alive from that trip.
In 1 word: No
I was always a blackout drunk so I don't remember if there was anything positive or not.
Originally Posted by gold1009 
Can you list any positives about your time spent with alcohol??
I was always a blackout drunk so I don't remember if there was anything positive or not.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: SoCal
Posts: 222
Originally Posted by AmericanGirl
Drinking and all mind-altering substances had an appeal because they let me experience improved moods temporarily and artificially -- artificially and temporarily being the key words there.
And for me, at least, they were only able to do this type of magic with higher and higher doses, and their absences created a negative, until they stopped doing any magic at all and drinking was a no-win situation.
And for me, at least, they were only able to do this type of magic with higher and higher doses, and their absences created a negative, until they stopped doing any magic at all and drinking was a no-win situation.
YouTube - ‪Jung, Alcoholics Anonymous, And Drug Seeking Behaviour‬‏
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Bethlehem, PA.
Posts: 1,781
What's interesting is that the initial feeling of ecstasy, the warm glow, relief of worries and inhibitions that you get when you start on a binge or mini-bender is almost impossible to keep going with more drinking. After that wears off you continue drinking to stop the withdrawal which leaves you feeling even worse than before you started. Your chasing a very brief sense of relief that you can't recapture with more and more alcohol.
Heathen
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: La La Land, USA
Posts: 2,567
Hoping this thread isn't triggering to anyone. Talking of the positives of the very thing that many of us are in a life and death battle for is inappropriate, at minimum, on a board like this.. but from reading the posts, it seems as though there's a lot of really healthy recovery here, and for that I am grateful to have read.
I remember when I was still in love with alcohol... My mind was as sick as my body was, and I didn't even know it.
I remember when I was still in love with alcohol... My mind was as sick as my body was, and I didn't even know it.
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 873
Supercrew I have a hundred stories like that.
I've been thinking a lot about this thread and one thing I've realized is that while I might have been having fun being a drunk idiot, in retrospect it wasn't fun for anyone else and they probably would have substituted the word idiot with a-hole.
I've been thinking a lot about this thread and one thing I've realized is that while I might have been having fun being a drunk idiot, in retrospect it wasn't fun for anyone else and they probably would have substituted the word idiot with a-hole.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Posts: 645
Gold1009,
How far down the scale will you need to go before you awaken to the fact that the negatives of alcohol consumption (for an alcoholic) vastly outweigh any positive?
How much further do you plan to dig? Loss of family? Loss of friends? Fired from job? DUI? Financial consequences? Legal consequences? Health consequences? Jail?
Why not join all of us who are happily living sober?
Susan
How far down the scale will you need to go before you awaken to the fact that the negatives of alcohol consumption (for an alcoholic) vastly outweigh any positive?
How much further do you plan to dig? Loss of family? Loss of friends? Fired from job? DUI? Financial consequences? Legal consequences? Health consequences? Jail?
Why not join all of us who are happily living sober?
Susan
Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 6,947
Originally Posted by gold1009
Can you list any positives about your time spent with alcohol??
I can look back and say I had a lot of great times in my life. I will never know if it was the alcohol that made them better... I know that I began to obsess about it, and I compulsively drank it and it ultimately created lots of heartache...
I have a lot of great times now, I don't need it to have a great time. Which makes me wonder, about all those other times...
What is the point of your question?
Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: The Great Outdoors
Posts: 1,992
What is the point of your question?
Mark..
What other reason would an alcoholic ponder this question if it were not the stepping stone to talking themselves into drinking again..I can't imagine any other reason.
Mark..
What other reason would an alcoholic ponder this question if it were not the stepping stone to talking themselves into drinking again..I can't imagine any other reason.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 6,947
Me neither... but.... I did have a period in my early recovery where I felt I needed a reason for why I drank other than alcoholism... and I wondered...did my admission of alcoholism invalidate my prior existence?
I know now that it didn't...
Mark
I know now that it didn't...
Mark
Member
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 26
One thing I liked about Augusten Burroughs' "Dry" is that he confronts this issue head-on in the book. Yes, alcohol was a part of many great times and made us feel good, or else why would we use it so much! But like we all KNOW, it has diminishing returns. And then at some point, those returns RAPIDLY diminish, and drinking is no longer ever really for fun, just for maintenance. That is the point when you have to quit for good. You can't recapture what you once had. The end.
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