Would a drink help?
 

I just love the below post. Its so true that even before I started drinking, the way I felt and thought about myself and my circumstances was that of an addict. I believed for a long time that I started drinking alcoholically at a certain time and before that everything was fine and normal and there was nothing wrong. Now I can completely relate to my thought pattern, behaviors and drinking early on leading me to a fatal progression - that can only be seen and understood looking back years later. I could have never been able to predict the progression that my alcoholism was going to take. Grateful for my sobriety.


DAILY REFLECTIONS January 18
WOULD A DRINK HELP?
By going back in our own drinking histories, we could show that years before we realized it we were out of control, that our drinking even then was no mere habit, that it was indeed the beginning of a fatal progression.
— TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 23
When I was still drinking, I couldn't respond to any of life's situations the way other, more healthy, people could. The smallest incident triggered a state of mind that believed I had to have a drink to numb my feelings. But the numbing did not improve the situation, so I sought further escape in the bottle. Today I must be aware of my alcoholism. I cannot afford to believe that I have gained control of my drinking — or again I will think I have gained control of my life. Such a feeling of control is fatal to my recovery.

Would a drink help?

No.

in early sobriety of course anything that went wrong which was like everything and anything i'd be like UGGG i want a drink!! but i told myself ok I got this 1 problem or these 10 problems. do i really want to add a drinking problem to this too? do i really want to battle a drinking problem and all these other ones?

drinking problem was like the straw the broke the camels back for me. tho i later realized it was the main reason for a lot of the other problems as well.

I am not asking this as a literal question... It was the title of the reading. I know very well that alcohol is not the answer to any of my problems and I cannot drink no matter what under any circumstances..one day at a time...

Congratulations on deciding to get sober ild666

For most people life isn't easy, it's a struggle, and we in the West have things a lot better than most. Alcohol starts out when we are young as a fun way enjoying social interaction. For a lot of people, alcoholics like me and perhaps people who wouldn't characterise themselves as alcoholics, it then progresses to become fraudulent relief from lifes pressures . Of course it is no relief at all and as you say it invariably makes things worse

It is not easy but I feel it is really important to be coldly logical about where that first drink will lead us ("playing the tape" as it is often called on SR)

For whatever reason, I still vividly remember the first time I took a bottle of wine to bed with me, trying to numb the feelings of a difficult situation. That was 1991. I never dreamed it would lead me down the path of alcoholism.

Yes!!! The summer I graduated from college all my friends left for the summer and I was alone in the city working. I came home from work one day and didnt have any plans or anyone to hang out with. I was bored so I decided to have a drink at home by myself. I had never drank by myself before or without the company of others. It seemed so innocent and harmless. So I would come home from work and drink by myself at home at nights... and my alcoholism progressed very quickly after that.

I had an incredibly frustrating day today and this very question came into my head. I was driving home and my AV was telling me a drink would help. Then I asked myself what would be the one thing that would make today worse. Of course, the answer to that is having a drink and start the entire miserable process over again. That shut the AV down real quick.