Don W

You are fine. We have learned over years to turn to alcohol for relief. What you did was, believe it or not, normal for us. It is my understanding, that these and other false lessons are what we need to change. If, you are like me, I didn't learn very many good coping skills growing up. When we are young we learn from models (paradigms they call them). When we've learned something wrong, we don't always know until we, relearn, from the correct paradigm. A few years ago, on SR, we had a great thread about this. The V A also gets into this. They deal mostly with what men learn from their fathers.
Anyway, a good example of this is a friend of ours tells us someone isn't nice and be careful. Because we trust this person we believe them. Then we talk to this person and find out they are nice. The difference is changing how l put myself in position to relearn lessons. I can only suggest that this has worked for me. Just by being here you've put yourself in a position to relearn new coping skills. On SR and other recovery groups you'll be provided with new paradigms. Sure they'll still be good and bad but, you can also learn to tell the difference. This might sound complicated but, addiction can be more complicated than simply not using. I think this padadigms goes along with cognitive theraphy, in my opinion, in helping us to identify what we need to change. Sometimes, just admitting that we made a mistake, is a change in the paradgims we've learned. Just don't give up on yourself, we won't. Don W

fraankie

well, you can start again
in any event
alcohol does not cure any physical maladies
it only enhances them


best
fraankie