Informative Chart
 

saw this in 1986. today I have 8+ months of sobriety.

I look at this chart, and everything I have experienced is still in the pink. Does this mean I am not truly an alcoholic? That maybe I won't need to abstain forever? That maybe I don't really need to abstain at all?

I am asking these questions in jest. However, I am afraid if I had seen this before I decided to try abstinence, I may have convinced myself that I didn't really have a problem.

I have some issues with this *chart*...not with the person who posted it. I am sure that for many people it is inspirational...I just think it implies in some way that you need to get all the way to the bottom before you can get to recovery.

If I've learned anything, it's that very few things posted here are going to be definitive or simultaneously match everyone's experience :)

If you're still 'in the pink' and you want to quit, I applaud you - I wish I'd been that self aware smartblonde :)

D

Dee, point well taken. :)

I completely agree with what you say that not everything is going to apply to everyone. I am not trying to be a trouble maker...just point out that this would be a great tool for someone who wants to deny they have a problem. The old, "I'm not THAT bad" line of thought that talks some of out of trying to abstain.

I appreciate the compliment of being self-aware, but I had an education in alcoholism from my first husband. We got divorced due to his drinking and I was starting to see things in myself that were reminiscent of him. It is a humbling experience. I didn't understand addiction at all back then, and I am now ashamed of the way I judged him and tried to control him. No wonder he kept drinking...if my current husband acted the way I did back then, I would probably crave alcohol even more than I already do.