Should We Call Ourselves Addicts or Alcoholics Forever? NO? YES? If so....WHY?
The way I see it, addiction is like a door that once opened and passed through is like a one street and there is no going back once a certain line is crossed. You might stop doing whatever it is that you were addicted to (and good on your for that) but you can never get back to your pre-addicted state of mind. A switch has been flipped in your brain and any future use of that substance will likely result in becoming physically addicted quicker this time and with even more devastating consequences and it will be more and more difficult to quit every time this happens as you chase the dragon. So I think that is what people mean when they say addict for life or alcoholic for life. You are exactly that and the only remedy is to never use that substance again. Call yourself what you like just stay clean.
Not all better, getting better
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: The Beautiful Inner Banks of NC
Posts: 1,702
Personally, I used it as an excuse to analyize and debate everything as opposed to actually taking action and doing something about it. I would make many elaborate arguments about "recovery", doing everything except, NOT USING!! I'm not saying at all that this is what is going on with you, but it is what I did. I went round and round on these very boards for years, discussing recovery, but not actually having any of it. I have enough KNOWLEDGE about recovery to teach a class, as far as actual PERSONAL EXPERIENCE...not so much. That's just me. Take care.
The last 5 years of my drinking I was a DRUNK.
In the last month or so of my drinking I realized the FACT that I am an ALCOHOLIC & a DRUNK. This self realized FACT gave me knowledge of what my problem was.
Unless one knows what thier problem is they can not address the problem. For me when the FACT that I am an alcoholic became REAL to me and I FULLY ACCEPTED it as a FACT, I was capable of making a decision, find a way to stop drinking or die.
Well my decision was I do not want to die! Here is where the big problem arose for me, my track record showed me that I did not have a clue at that point of how to get sober, I had long passed the point where I could not go a single day, physically, mentally or spiritually, without drinking.
Accepting the FACT that I did not have a clue how to get sober, I saw a doctor who told me I needed to be medically detoxed. I got detoxed and then began the REAL BATTLE!!! Staying sober!
In detox they told us every day several times that if we wanted a chance at long term sobriety to go to at least 90 AA meetings in 90 days & get a sponsor.
Well accepting the FACT, that I sure had no clue of how to stay sober I went to AA. In AA in step 1 I accepted the FACT that I am an alcoholic. Being an alcoholic I accepted the FACT that I can not drink safely.
The FACT that I am an alcoholic allowed me to begin and maintain my recovery.
The day I went into detox I went from being a DRUNK alcoholic to a RECOVERING alcoholic.
In my short 3+ years in the rooms of AA I have heard numerous alcoholics who had relapsed (A few with more then 15-20 years sober)share that in a nutshell, they quit doing what they had been doing to stay sober.............. the old insane thinking returned, they decided they were NOT an alcoholic and they could drink safely....... this time!!!
Knowing and accepting the FACT that I am an alcoholic daily is part of what keeps me sober today. From the experience of MILLIONS of others and a few I have witnessed & know, when one reahes the point where they no longer accept they are an alcoholic is when once again alcohol shows them that they are indeed an alcoholic.
In the last month or so of my drinking I realized the FACT that I am an ALCOHOLIC & a DRUNK. This self realized FACT gave me knowledge of what my problem was.
Unless one knows what thier problem is they can not address the problem. For me when the FACT that I am an alcoholic became REAL to me and I FULLY ACCEPTED it as a FACT, I was capable of making a decision, find a way to stop drinking or die.
Well my decision was I do not want to die! Here is where the big problem arose for me, my track record showed me that I did not have a clue at that point of how to get sober, I had long passed the point where I could not go a single day, physically, mentally or spiritually, without drinking.
Accepting the FACT that I did not have a clue how to get sober, I saw a doctor who told me I needed to be medically detoxed. I got detoxed and then began the REAL BATTLE!!! Staying sober!
In detox they told us every day several times that if we wanted a chance at long term sobriety to go to at least 90 AA meetings in 90 days & get a sponsor.
Well accepting the FACT, that I sure had no clue of how to stay sober I went to AA. In AA in step 1 I accepted the FACT that I am an alcoholic. Being an alcoholic I accepted the FACT that I can not drink safely.
The FACT that I am an alcoholic allowed me to begin and maintain my recovery.
The day I went into detox I went from being a DRUNK alcoholic to a RECOVERING alcoholic.
In my short 3+ years in the rooms of AA I have heard numerous alcoholics who had relapsed (A few with more then 15-20 years sober)share that in a nutshell, they quit doing what they had been doing to stay sober.............. the old insane thinking returned, they decided they were NOT an alcoholic and they could drink safely....... this time!!!
Knowing and accepting the FACT that I am an alcoholic daily is part of what keeps me sober today. From the experience of MILLIONS of others and a few I have witnessed & know, when one reahes the point where they no longer accept they are an alcoholic is when once again alcohol shows them that they are indeed an alcoholic.
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