Thursday, March 6, 2014

Reflections on the road to Recovery from alcoholism-There is a solution


 Reflections .............................................................on the Road to recovery

 
                                                 There is a solution

 In the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous there is a chapter named "There is a solution". It is a chapter that gets read and discussed on a regular basis especially when newcomers are present.

The other day I attended a meeting and as the content of the chapter was being read I had a thought  that went like this, "There is a solution-and its not alcohol! 


The meaning for me goes back to the idea that I suffer from alcoholism-emphasis on the "ism". This means that I had and have many issues that negatively affect my thoughts and actions. These need to be  addressed- continuously-for me to have any kind of peace and contentment.

For many years I used alcohol to medicate these problems... defects..call them what you may..and for a while alcohol seemed to be the solution. At least temporarily- numbing and deflecting the problems until I got sober...where they then returned worse than ever.

Many years ago while in treatment I spoke to a counselor who asked "So whats your problem- why do you think you are here"? I listed a number of "issues" I had- with people, jobs, situations- life in general. He asked, "What about alcohol? I responded (rather angrily), "You fix my problems and I won't need alcohol".  Translation- Dont take away my solution until you take away the pain and difficulty of life- His response, "Maybe if you quit drinking you wouldn't have so many problems". That was a shocker..(as a matter of fact I asked him to repeat the statement since I knew it was important but needed more time to really grasp the idea!).

So in essence he was saying alcohol is not the solution its the problem.  Then of course I was left with the question,  "then what is the solution..because I cannot live like Ive been living without something to take the place of alcohol".

The answers came ..sometimes quickly sometimes slowly...which will be the subject of future posts.

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