endlesspatience

Thanks everyone for your continued support. I started another thread about AA recently which elicited some very helpful replies, so thanks for all that.

I should also mention that I see a professional addiction counsellor. And we had a talk about my idea of sacrificing something by giving up drink (and smoking).

He asked me to think along these lines which I think others may find helpful. Don't think of it as giving something up. You've stopped doing something that was causing serious damage to your life. You can do the other things that you want to do without the drink. In fact, you'll enjoy them more because you will be taking part in them more fully!

This made me also think about a sermon I heard in church regarding the time Jesus threw the money changers out of the Temple. The preacher explained that this was to show that making animal sacrifices was not a way to obtain God's love, which is unconditional.

I sometime think that if I sacrifice my drinking I will get other people's love and it's a chip I use to bargain for other people's favour. That actually doesn't make sense though.

To think of another situation. If I have a problem with eating too much, should I "sacrifice" meals to God so he will bless me? It doesn't look a good way to think about it. Eating properly and exercising is part of my plan to develop a healthy lifestyle and enjoy my body more. It's not about pleasing God or seeking someone else's love.

And the same can be true of booze. I don't want hangovers, bad digestion, headaches, shame and other negative consequences. But that's because I know life's better when they stop - not because I need to sacrifice them.

SoberLeigh

I understand your point, endlesspatience, that giving up drinking may not be truly sacrificial due to the corresponding derived personal benefit.

As it is Lent, I think about the practice of sacrifice (self-denial) quite a bit these days and its link to a deepening spiritual attachment with Jesus and the ultimate sacrifice He made for mankind.

Many sacrifices we make during Lent do have a corresponding earthly benefits and it makes me think that doing something like sacrificing time to give service to others would be more sacrificial in nature.

As an aside, I now view my past drinking as a self-imposed, long term punishment - rather a prison term.

I once could not imagine a life without alcohol. I now wonder what in the world I was thinking.

Soberwolf

Thats exellent EP your acceptance really shows because you know what happens

As for giving up more than anything it is so you can have your life back and being able to write what your writing now which is totally awesome btw

Good to hear from you have a nice day

Fly N Buy

Addictive behaviors are manifestly self centered actions that hurt not only ourselves but every one and every thing we come in contact with. However those behaviors fall into our daily lives really is fodder for the grist mill and can be over analyzed to a fare thee well.

Changing bad behaviors is indeed not sacrificial or prideful but really about love......oneself and others.

Glad you're here,
keep coming back!

Nonsensical

It took me a few months of sobriety to understand, but focusing on the loss - i.e. I sacrificed drinking - is missing the big picture. I have a fantastic life now. To focus on the sacrifice of lost drinking is like winning the lottery and focusing on the dollar you sacrificed to purchase the ticket.

Lance40

Maybe initially but not anymore. In the context of this thread, being intoxicated clouds the mind, dulls the senses and is a selfish pleasure. As I get older I start to understand the underlying principle of why almost all major world religious traditions take a stand against intoxication. Drinking isn't in and of itself inherently wrong, but clarity, enlightenment and giving of yourself are blocked or stunted when intoxicated.

least

I started out giving up alcohol, but then came to see that I wasn't sacrificing anything, but rather I was gaining a good sober life. It helps to practice gratitude.

ScottFromWI

At the end of my drinking, it was not something I did for enjoyment - it was in essence it was a sad form of life support. If I didn't drink i went into withdrawals, and when I did drink it was guzzling, slamming beers in hiding to keep my BAC at a tolerable level.

So yeah, I guess I gave something up, but it was something I wouldn't wish on anyone.

totfit

I don't look at it as giving anything up, but instead gaining the world. Drinking severely limits my world. I also don't worry about "God's" love or the love of anyone else. It is my love for myself that is most important. After I love myself, then I have something to give. Without loving myself, I am a taker and not a giver.