Posted by shar on August 16, 2000, at 14:22:11
In reply to Re: Problems with Alcohol , posted by Lisa Simpson on August 16, 2000, at 10:35:52
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Lisa,
Please resist that voice that says you are a failure. Always remember that you were a success before you stepped back.Every alcoholic has bad times, most of them have at least one step back. You are so early in your sobriety it is extra hard for you to say no. That takes quite a bit of practice.
You would not believe the stories I've heard of people having a slip; some after months, some after years of sobriety. I think that's why there is so much emphasis on one day at a time (one hour/minute/etc. at a time).
If you can distract yourself or resist for one minute, pretty soon it will be an hour's worth. If you slip, it's done, and you can "get back on the horse" and remember that you had 2 or three days of sobriety, and feel really good about that.
Everything about sobriety is a little at a time. A little sobriety earns a big celebration (pats on the back, a special treat, whatever you can do to acknowledge your success), a slip earns another opportunity to think about why you want to stop, and lets you know how strong the draw of alcohol is. If all people beat themselves up because of a slip we probably wouldn't have any "recovering" alcoholics because beating oneself up does not encourage taking another try.
You should give yourself at least 49,823,496 tries before you say "failure" at all. This is long term. It's like someone in their first year at college beating themselves up because they are not a senior yet!
Hang on, you have a lot of people pulling for you. Good luck,
Shar
> I had a step back last night - I went home, again without buying any alcohol to take home with me. But later in the evening, my husband produced a bottle of brandy, which he proceeded to open in front of me, and offered me some. I couldn't resist - I had some. Not much. But I still had some. I feel really bad about it today... such a failure, I am.
poster:shar
thread:42413
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000811/msgs/43098.html