I Drank Because.....For our Newcomers.
 

This is a re post from our Alcoholism Forum
last month.

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...ons/icon14.gif I drank because..
This is from another recovery site...and I wanted to share it it here too.

Quote:
Why did I become an alcoholic? Perhaps the following litany will help explain. I didn't write it, but the anonymous author obviously knew what he was talking about:

I drank because I had the right, and everything in my life went wrong.
I drank to help me cope, and I became a failure.
I drank to feel numb and felt guilt.
I drank to sleep and awoke un-rested and hung-over.
I drank to feel comfortable socially and became anti-social, a recluse.
I drank to stimulate my intellect and suffered blackouts.
I drank to be sophisticated and became obnoxious.
I drank to be accepted and ended up scorned.
I drank to forget and became haunted by my past.
I drank because I was thirsty, and a thousand drinks didn't quench my obsession for more.
I drank to escape myself, but I always ended up back alone, stuck with me.
I drank because I hated God.
After much struggle, I understood.

Because, because.

I have nothing more to say about because. My focus right now is about being sober for today. Being the best I can for today. I cannot change even one second of the past. The past is an exercise in futility

Anonymous AA Member

I can identify with all of them. Thanks for posting this, I feel stronger now.

It's scary how many resonate with me.

all so true

i drank because i thought i could.
i drank because i thought it was fun.

wrong on both counts

:e136:

I drank when I was happy, I drank when I was sad. I drank to celebrate, I drank to mourn. I drank to thrive, I drank to sleep. You name the excuse, I have used it.

Give me a little more time (only sober 5 days) and I'll list the reasons I don't drink. God be with me.

in the end... i drank because i had too...

i know different now...

love you carol, a real power of example...

xxoo, patrick

In the end i knew i drank because I was an alcoholic and that's what alcoholics do.

They drink. The reason is they are addicted to alcohol. At some point it makes no difference how you got there. You are ill from drinking, and you get ill from not drinking. It is horrible place to be trapped--where sobriety is an altered state.

That is why i drank. In the end it was because i was an alcoholic, and the booze always whispered in my ear--oh what a favor.

My primary purpose for drinking in the beginning was to help me go to sleep as this is something I have struggled with for years. In the course of 3.5 years it went beyond having a drink to fall asleep to wanting to drink to escape people, problems, and life in general. There were many, many weekends that I stayed passed out. I would come to, drink some more and pass right back out. I shut myself off from friends and family, it was just me and the bottle.

The last year of my drinking I drank because I now HAD to in order to stop the shakes, hangovers, throwing up and other physical symptoms. In just this short amount of time (compared to others who drank alcoholically for a lot longer than I did) I became alcohol dependent and plunged into a dark pit from which I could not find an escape. I became totally obsessed with alcohol (where could I get it, when could I drink it, finding private places to sneak a maintenance drink so I could stop shaking for a while). I tried the various methods we use to "control it" such as changing what I drank, trying to taper off, hiding bottles from myself (which somehow in my drunken stupors I managed to find anyway).

Today is different. I am no longer physically dependent on alcohol and I want it to stay that way. I live life and face it whether it is good, bad or ugly. I no longer go into a cave and seek to obliterate my existence. I live life on life's terms daily to the best of my ability and willingly seek guidance from other recovering alcoholics as well as from my Higher Power. I pick up the spiritual toolkit that was laid at my feet in the rooms of AA and use those tools today.

Carol, thank you for this thread!

I drink because my heart hurts and it hurts because I drink.

i drank because it was my time to relax, i drank because i could let it all hang out, i drank cause it felt food,i drank because i felt bad, i drank because then i was prettier,smarter, and wayyyyyyyyy more fun even though i am quite the character sober. all these excuses are just that! excuses, i drank because it altered my mind, now i deal with what's on my mind without the embarrasemnt, humilitiation, hangovers, and without the alcohol or anything that will alter my mind. if i even think of drinking i play the tape in my mind ummmmmm first drink good, makes me looser, 2nd drink yep definatnly looser and a whole lot smarter .. tape goes on , and on and ALWAYS bad ending

Why did I drink, because that is what we do if we are alcoholics. Today we have a choice, there was a time when I didn't have a choice. I never had excuses to drink until I got in the program. Boy a program really messes with you drinking that is for sure :sly: