Rainbowgirl128

i have seen so many people say "when you cross over that invisible line, there is no turning back." what is the invisible line and how do you know you have crossed it. why after crossing it is there suddenly no turning back? i am confused.

puterdude

I wonder the same thing as to the definition. What it means to me is that invisible line is where you cross from social drinking to dependence. Once dependent upon alcohol I suppose there is no crossing back over the invisible line...that's where the decision to quit completely comes in?

As someone also earlier said, are the labels and definitions really the important thing? I'm getting to a point where I feel alcohol is keeping me back from where I'd like to be in life. I am not dependent on alcohol, however, alcohol is far more of a focal point in my life than it should be (for me). I suppose that is my invisible line...I'm not dependent but drinking isn't doing me any good either.

That's part of the problem for me too. I don't feel dependent so I struggle with deciding if I should quit completely or not. I don't feel I'd ever hit some sort of obvious rock bottom that many point to as their time to make change in their life. For me, I see my drinking as taking my edge away to move my life forward. Drinking is keeping me stuck in a rut. Whatever the definitions are, I define it as I've simply had enough.

I hope this helps...

--mike

doorknob

The invisible line to me, is the point at which one can no longer reliably control their intake once drinking has commenced. There seems to be a change in body chemisty that never returns to normal.

Mattcake

Well, my take on this is that, at a certain point, addictive behaviour stops being a symptom of something else and becomes a disorder in itself. Meaning that treating the underlaying causes will not necessarily clear up the addiction. I think that the only way to know you've crossed the line is by realizing that you already have a problem. Unfortunately, most people don't stop until it's too late. The good news is, if all goes well, most people DON'T want to go back anyway.

It's a matter of semantics, mostly. Labels, disorders, etc. BTW, I know that my point of view differs from the official medical stance, and AA's too. But that's what works for me. You'll probably get lots of different answers.

tommyk

Invisible line = approaching dangerous behavior.

Like standing on the edge of a cliff... how close to the edge can you get before you cross that invisible line and fall over?

Like being sober for 4 weeks and deciding you can have just a sip of alcohol. Then two sips tomorrow, three sips the next day...etc.

Like a drug addict deciding they can drink or smoke dope... soon they're right back where they started.

We each have 'invisible lines' that once crossed lead to danger.

Where did we cross the line and go wrong? At what point does one fall over the edge of the cliff? No clear-cut answers - the line is invisible...

STAY FAR AWAY FROM THE LINE, WHEREVER IT MAY LIE.

least

For me I recognized that I was rationalizing my drinking habits and behavior. I was noticing that I found myself drinking more than I knew I 'should'. It was in the subtle changes in myself and my behavior. Drinking earlier and earlier in the day, feeling ashamed of myself the next day - but still drinking. Noticing that the wine no longer tasted good to me and that it was taking more and more to get drunk. It was in lying about it and hiding my bottles and making excuses, to myself and my kids.

It was really scary to me that each of the three times this year I went to rehab I relapsed after coming home - maybe not right away, but it always happened. It was in waking up with the shakes so bad in the middle of the night and having to drink to get back to sleep. It was in a big glass of wine as soon as I got up and having to give up my coffee cause it made me too agitated. It was in being the first one there when the drivethru or grocery store opened at 7 or 8 am. It was in always wondering what the employees of the grocery and drivethru thought of me for visible shaking in buying my first bottle of the day.

I knew I'd "crossed that line" last December when I knew I had a bad problem but could not seem to stop drinking for more than a day or two, and the withdrawals getting worse and worse.

Everyone's 'invisible line' is drawn at a different point, but knowing somewhere deep down in my soul that there was something wrong and abnormal about my drinking. I finally managed to quit drinking and stay sober in mid July. I've been tempted to drink many times since then, tho the cravings aren't as bad anymore, but I know in my heart I can't go back there.

I hope this helps.:ghug3

CarolD

I never knew what day or which drink
slid me into alcoholism.

That's what I consider the invisible line.

And...once I was addicted...I am always
going to be an alcoholic...even without alcohol.

That is what I consider as no turning back.

Blessings to you...

Dean62

I don't know if this is right for others. For me it was one night when I decided I wasn't going to drink and I discovered that I couldn't get to sleep without drinking. I had no idea what was going on but I know now it was my first experience with alcohol withdrawal. My body had become so used to having alcohol in it that for the first time when I chose not to drink my body protested. My body had become dependent. I new instantly that I had just crossed a line and the effect that alcohol was having on me had now taken a serious turn for the worse. I may have crossed the "invisible line" before that but that was when I knew it.

Knowing I had crossed an invisible line did not keep me sober.

nandm

The best way for me to describe the invisible line is the following analogy.

How long can a cucumber sit in vinegar before it becomes a pickle? Once the cucumber has become a pickle can it ever go back to being a pickle?

I don't know exactly how long it takes before a cucumber crosses the line from cucumber into pickle but I do know that once a cucumber is a pickle it can never again be changed back into a cucumber.

The same thing with alcoholism. I can not say exactly when I crossed that invisible line into alcoholism, all I know is that I passed it and I can no longer go back to being a normal drinker anymore.

The best way I can describe that line is when I no longer could control what I drank once I picked up the first drink. Yes, there were times when I could sit down and say I will only have 2 and do it but it left me feeling like I wanted more. The more I tried to control the amount I drank the less I was able to enjoy drinking and the more I was able to enjoy drinking the more I lost control over how much I drank. Hopefully that makes some sense.

Anna

The invisible line in my opinion, is something that you don't see coming. Like Carol, I never knew which day, which drink made me cross that line. But, I knew I had crossed the line, when I could not stop drinking.