Step by Step
Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023
” …(T)he main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind, rather than in his body. If you ask him why he started on that last bender, the chances are he will offer you any one of a hundred alibis. Sometimes these excuses have a certain plausibility, but none of them really makes sense in the light of the havoc an alcoholic’s drinking bout creates. They sound like the philosophy of the man who, having a headache, beats himself on the head with a hammer so that he can’t feel the ache.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 2 (“There Is a Solution”), p 23.
Today, I will not waste time asking why I set out on the pattern of drinking that led me to where I am now. The answer is simple and obvious: I am an alcoholic. And if a gnawing question persists why I am an alcoholic, the answer probably lies in my Fourth Step. How many mornings, days and nights did I beat myself on the head with a hammer so I couldn’t feel the agony of physical, emotional and spiritual torture? In the Program, I am armed with an arsenal to counter that agony, to focus not so much on how to live without alcohol but how to recover with sobriety. Why did I set off that pattern of drinking that got me here, in this Program? I am alcoholic. That simple. Today, I can deal with it. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2023
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