Surrender to win

[angussdundee]

Most AA's that I have met, who are into their recovery and enjoying getting back into the main stream of life again simply put their good fortune down to the grace of God, the strength of the fellowship of AA and by not drinking for one day at a time. They will freely admit that AA's contribution to their recovery is the lifeboat that rescued them from drowning in their own particular sea of dispair. No other vehicle, person, pill or potion had the power to do what AA has done for us and I honestly believe that to-day.
We have now learned that people, places and things did not make us drink after all. We drank because of an overpowering compulsion triggered by taking that first drink of alcohol, whether it be morning, noon or night the effect was the same for us and the only way we could escape from the mad-merry-go-round was to put the drink down and keep the drink down.
There are now hundreds if not thousands of different support groups around the world and I'm sure that they all work in one way or another for different folks, but we should never ignore the contribution that the simple twelve steps of recovery programme outlined in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous has made to many, many thousands of men and woman across our planet. It works, it really does.

We can go to hell and back on a twelve step call, we can sit up half the night trying to get a newcomer to see sense, we can make heartfelt emotional appeals on the internet, the telephone, the tom tom drums or by just plain screaming this message from the tallest building in our towns but it will seldom work unless the still suffering alcoholic actualy wants to hear us. Unless they are prepared to streach out their arms and embrace our lifeboat with all the strength that they have left then the chances are that they'll drown and that is the reality of our lives to-day.

I say to anyone who is prepared to admit that they are suffering from alcoholism, go to AA. They are the 'professionals' when it comes to stopping drinking. They have found a way to live their lives without the need to drink. They will tell you the truth, whether or not you are capable of accepting the truth is for you to find out.

AA's twelve step recovery programme was designed by alcoholics for alcoholics in order to help them to get well. Nowhere in the Big Book does it say that we have to understand the steps in order to do them. We do the steps and the understanding of them comes with the practice of them, not before. It's that simple.

We have to come to believe that our obsession that we can cure ourselves by the application of effort, intelligence, blame on others etc. will not free us from the grip of our alcoholism. Neither will we get well by waiting for some miracle cure to come along and save us. We AA's have found that we finally had to do the steps to get well. I'm never surprised but I am often tickled, by how simple the suffering alcoholic finds it is to put the drink down and keep it down once they have willingly started the twelve 'simple' steps.
For years and years we put ourselves and those who loved and cared for us through the emotionl wringer while we tried on our own efforts and power to stop the madness that is alcoholism and it just didnt work untill we took that first 'simple' step.

Anything that I say here or may believe to be true is my own personal opinion and not neccessarily that of AA or AASL as a whole.
I share here to feel better and it does work for me.

God help us all,

anguss.

[samf]

Anguss, thank you! Great post!

This especially got to my heart, personally:

"We can go to hell and back on a twelve step call, we can sit up half the night trying to get a newcomer to see sense, we can make heartfelt emotional appeals on the internet, the telephone, the tom tom drums or by just plain screaming this message from the tallest building in our towns but it will seldom work unless the still suffering alcoholic actualy wants to hear us. Unless they are prepared to streach out their arms and embrace our lifeboat with all the strength that they have left then the chances are that they'll drown and that is the reality of our lives to-day."

This disease to me is heartbreaking, for just that reason! But we know and keep screaming from the rooftops that there really is a way out.

I kept wanting to stop, but it wasn't for me until I was at the end of my rope that the miracle happened for me.

Some of us need to be detoxed in a hospital, but even then, the trick is not to pick up that next drink....and for many of us, staying IN the hospital was a MIRACLE!

I pray every day that folks will find AA, and find a way out, before they actually die.

Thank you for a heartfelt post with so much in it.

Sam

[jewels21]

Well said Anguss. I'm still keeping that drink put down and one day at a time, I'm refusing to pick it up. Thanks for all the support. Have a wonderful sober 24 hours/Jewels21 DOS Apr 4/07...one day at a time, one hour at a time, and sometimes, one minute at a time but by the grace of God I'm getting there. :)

[kremjk]

Thanks Angus, I agree.

Strangely, it was when I quit 'trying' to quit drinking that my relief came. I had an obsession in my mind to return to that first drink. Even when my plan was to quit all together the meer thought of a drink became the most powerful thought in my mind defeating any and all arguments and reasons (in my same mind) for not drinking.

I was conflicted. I wanted and needed to quit and had many good reasons to not drink but the drive to drink (sometimes disquised as a decision to drink only one or two and not get drunk) always won the argument. And as Angus described above that 'one' always led to drunkeness.

This obsessive quality of the drive to drink was described by AA members and the fact that 'no human power could relieve' my obsession to drink. I needed help from a Higher Power. I was not able to join in a group effort to 'gather, shoulder to shoulder, in pledge to swear off drink'.

I was led to pray for help. And my brothers and sisters in AA prayed for me also. I joined AA, rather than just visit meetings for moral support. I began to follow all the directions from those who had already surrendered.

That obsession left me before I knew it was gone. Everytime I was obsessed to drink, I drank. And now sober days added together into months. I was still afraid that I might drink again but the day came when I realised that I was free from that overwhelming drive to drink and I had been for quite some time.

I was not free to quit AA however. By that time I had looked within and found much more about me that I wanted to change that I needed God's help with also. And I had become convinced that the AA program offered promise for more freedoms to come. If I surrender...

jim k

[jewels21]

Hey Jim. I understand the "obsessive" thinking about drinking. It didn't happen until after I stopped drinking. I don't quite understand the obsession but now I will pray to my hp to remove the obsession. I never thought about asking my hp to remove the obsession. Thanks for that. This forum is amazing in that the threads seem to reach all of us at different times when we need it too. Have a great sober 24/Jewels