Step by Step
Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023
“We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics. This is the first step in recovery. The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to be smashed.
‘We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking. We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control. All of us felt at times that we were regaining control, but such intervals — usually brief — were inevitably followed by still less control, which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization. We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our types are in the grip of a progressive illness. Over any considerable period we get worse, never better.” — Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 3 (“More About Alcoholism”), p 30.
Today, the first step in recovery is to concede that I am an alcoholic, that I can no longer drink responsibly — if I ever did — and that I will only get sicker and never better if I continue to drink. Disease, dis-ease, illness, condition or whatever other name, the word alcoholic is nothing more than a label. But if for whatever reason I cannot accept or even say it, I can say simply that I cannot drink and work toward a goal — sober alcoholic. As a sober alcoholic, I have the freedom to say I do not need and do not want to drink and to say that I am simply a person who does not drink. Today, I will start to live in the solution of sobriety and not in the problem of alcoholism. But I first must acknowledge that I simply cannot drink. Today, I cannot and do not want to drink. It’s that simple. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2023
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