doggonecarl

The successful man will profit from his
mistakes and try again in a different way.
--Dale Carnegie

Dale wasn’t talking about recovery, but he could have been. If success is sobriety, what’s the lesson for us in the quote above?

There are many here who seek sobriety, yet struggle. They quit, then drink, then vow never to drink again, only to do so anyway, oft repeatedly. And we encourage them to, “Try again” and to keep trying. But trying is only part of the formula for recovery. Carnegie’s quote contains another part of the formula—trying in a different way.

Profiting from our mistakes means not repeating what doesn’t work. We must identify our failure points and attempt new ways to get beyond them.

What are your failure points? What are you doing differently?

Is “quitting drinking” the extent of your plan? Then make the changes needed to support that. Or broaden the plan. If doing this alone isn’t working, seek face-to-face support. Sitting quietly in a meeting? Speak up! Get numbers, use them. Think AA is just the meetings? Get a sponsor, work the steps. Can’t go a day without drinking? Go to detox. Get the alcohol out of your system and then start on your recovery. That might mean rehab, or outpatient treatment.

If what you are doing isn’t working…look at what you are doing, and do it differently.

Resolv

Failures - keeping my sobriety on the low down and attempting recovery informally.
Doing Differently - Transparency & honesty regarding my recovery & following the advice of medical professionals.

desypete

i fully agree with the op post
if what your doing isnt working and your still drinking its time to try other things, how i tried to give up over and over again and sometimes going a few weeks as i would be determind it was my last drink
then the fear fades, then whatever i did to feel ashamed of myself starts to vanish, then i start to feel like life is unfair because i can not drink and all the rest of the world can
then i start to think about trying to drink in a different way, maybe if i only drink half pints i will not get drunk ? or if i cut out drinking spirits i will not get drunk, if i only buy a 4 pack instead of an 8
you name it i would try it but sooner or later i would end up back in that drunken mess again and swearing i will never do it again

everyone around me gets fed up and stop believing in my promises as they knew me better than i knew me

so maybe if your like me and you tried all you can think of and still end up in that pit of despair over and over again its time to try other methods

Dee74

Great post Carl.

For many years my plan was 'quit drinking'. It was like deciding to fly in space
Both very hard to do without further work, preparation and planning.

D

PurpleKnight

Nice post!!

I soon realised that willpower and sheer resistance to alcohol, if it didn't work the first time, then something more was needed, support and something outside of myself was required!!

jdooner

Great post Carl - I like the definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over hoping for different results. Addiction is insanity.

I have never seen anyone who was an addict and simply removed the substance or behavior from their life and had success. As Dee recommended, I had to change everything about my life.

I had to create a new sober life, one I wanted my than my active life and protect this sober life with all of my being!