12skiptomylue

Yesterday, someone said in a meeting: "drinking was not my problem. But drinking was my solution for everything else".

Is that what alcoholism is?

56 days today.

Sapling

Let's see...I drank because I was sad...I drank because I was lonlely...I drank because I was scared....I drank because I was worried...I drank because I wasn't good enough....I drank because I didn't have enough stuff....I drank because others had more stuff than I did...I drank because I was tired....I drank because I was bored....I thought it was a solution.....Now that I think about it....I think it was the cause of all that.

Fenris

That would definitely be a part of my definition of alcoholism. Drinking wasn't my problem...I was. Take the bottle out of my hands, and I still have to deal with me. Drinking was just a symptom of my inability to deal with life on life's terms. As for it being the solution to everything else: good day, bad day, rainy day, sunny day, Monday, Friday....yeah, every good or bad thing in life was a reason to tip up my cup.

--Fenris.

sugarbear1

My opinion for me is that I am the problem. I am highly sensitive, emotionally immature...self-centered egocentric....I blamed everyone and everything for my problems. I was super shy (self-centered in the extreme). No one understood me.

Alcohol was my solution. I felt okay in my own skin & I could (kinda) socialize when I drank. The world made more sense when I drank, even if I were only perpetuating the intense feelings I had.

Alcoholism has little to do with alcohol, except that alcohol was my solution to life.

Today, I work the 12 steps into my life and I feel okay in my own skin. I can now deal with what life tosses to me. I love people and the world now makes sense.

I hope, in some way, this helps you. The steps saved my life from drinking myself to death, alone, in my apartment, with a cat by my side. Today, I have a life.

Peace,

12skiptomylue

Sugarbear, you said: Alcoholism has little to do with alcohol,. Can you explain this more?

Anna

My feeling is that I was looking for something to ease the pain in my mind, the never-ending negative chatter in my head. I hated being in my skin. I could have chosen food, drugs, cigarettes, alcohol or whatever. I chose alcohol and once I stopped drinking, all the stuff was still right there in my head and I had to deal with it.

DisplacedGRITS

I was in an AA meeting when it became clear to me that working the steps wasn't to help me to deal with my relationship with alcohol but to help me deal with my relationship with myself and what led me to use and continue to use. Alcohol became my convient tool to block out all the pain and negative emotions i didn't want to deal with in my life and i know now that if it hadn't been alcohol it would have been sometime else.

Sapling

Skip...If you take away the alcohol....That leaves the ISM....I...Self...and Me....That's the problem that has to be fixed.

tomsteve

sounds like an opinion to me and one i share. i didnt have a problem drinking. i had a problem not drinking.

to find out what alcoholism, crack open the BB and start reading.


and cool beans of 56 days! time to stop counting days. we only have 1.

sugarbear1

it means it doesn't matter how much or how often you drink, it has to do with it being the solution to life.

alcoholism has to do with me and how I view life. alcoholism is how I See Me, or the ISM of alcoholism. again, the alcohol is my solution. some people use self-mutilation through cutting. same principles apply