Get the Support You Need

Learn from thousands of users who have made their way through our courses. Need help getting started? Watch this short video.

today's top discussions:

logo

Emergency Happy Questions

Ashley -> Health Educator

2024-06-11 2:42 PM

Depression Community

logo

Questions to challenge negativity

Ashley -> Health Educator

2024-06-03 3:43 PM

Depression Community

logo

Social anxiety disorder

Ashley -> Health Educator

2024-05-29 1:50 PM

Anxiety Community

This Month’s Leaders:

Most Supportive

Most Loved

Browse through 411.758 posts in 47.059 threads.

160,770 Members

Please welcome our newest members: MereM, browcari, Cas151, Britanica78, m_ladyschoolme

Vodka


9 years ago 0 1562 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Swig,
 I got this from Power of now, where ET talks about the true meaning of surrender:
**-**
To some people, surrender may have negative connotations, implying defeat, giving up, failing to rise to the challenges of life, becoming lethargic, and so on. True surrender, however, is something entirely different. It does not mean to passively put up with whatever situation you find yourself in and to do nothing about it. Nor does it mean to cease making plans or initiating positive action.
Surrender is the simple but profound wisdom of yielding to rather than opposing the flow of life. The only place where you can experience the flow of life is the Now, so to surrender is to accept the present moment unconditionally and without reservation. It is to relinquish inner resistance to what is. Inner resistance is to say "no" to what is, through mental judgment and emotional negativity. It becomes particularly pronounced when things "go wrong," which means that there is a gap between the demands or rigid expectations of your mind and what is. That is the pain gap. If you have lived long enough, you will know that things "go wrong" quite often. It is pre-cisely at those times that surrender needs to be practiced if you want to eliminate pain and sorrow from your life. Acceptance of what is immediately frees you from mind identification and thus reconnects you with Being. Resistance is the mind.
Surrender is a purely inner phenomenon. It does not mean that on the outer level you cannot take action and change the situation. In fact, it is not the overall situation that you need to accept when you surrender, but just the tiny segment called the Now.
**-**
And in AA we just do that, we accept the condition that we can't handle it, mentally and physically and then put forth a rigorous course of action, and we get the power to live a life without a need for external substance.
9 years ago 0 421 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Dave, I think that it might have been a 'prove it' kind of moment. I feel like that fits. Thanks for the insight! I wanted to test myself can I still buy it? Can I drink it? What will my family do. It was a choice. A poor one but a choice none the less.  What's interesting is I have spent all day trying to get my husband to forgive me or try to talk it out let it be "water off a ducks back" he is still cold and my kids don't want to talk about it either. I think they r in shock I know I am. I've been telling them and telling them for weeks how I'm never doing the secret drinking again that I'm an open book....that I can't believe I lived that way and I'm sorry.  Then last night I poured that vodka in my diet coke. I remember thinking....God, this is just like it used to be...and then saying outloud 'this is really bad' .

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I am pulling myself together dusting off and marching onward. I just wish I could take it back. 
9 years ago 0 1009 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Hi ND,

We need to look at our situations from all angles. The key problem with what you describe is not the fact that you did this, it's the fact that you want to test your family to validate what you are doing by quitting and you can trust them. You are on the right track, for sure, however we need to be forgiven and accepted unconditionally and we will test that to the Nth degree if it isn't acknowledged. So here you are making massive progress and now you are feeling you threw it all away because you've disappointed someone outside of yourself (and yourself too but you are going through a process of really getting to know yourself)......How would you feel if they had said "I understand honey, and I accept you for exactly who you are. It's ok to make mistakes. Forget about it and move on. Water off a ducks back." That gives you space to forgive and accept yourself. You are working so hard to make a difference for yourself and your family but is it completely unconditional on both sides? Is this type of unconditional forgiveness a problem in your environment? Do you feel it is possible to share your feelings and thoughts on this idea with your family? Here's what made a difference for me....When I had my last binge I realized I was hurting my family and I went to them individually and told them that they were much more important than drinking and I was going to quit because my relationship with them was too important to me to jeopardize and I was sorry for the problems the drinking was causing. And as I was sharing my thoughts on this and making that commitment to myself it gave the ones most important the chance to "Ok, thank you, I love you, let's move on". One of those people said to me "I love you too much to much to let this get in our way. Forget about it. Let's move on." Forget about it! Unconditional forgiveness, just like that. I had never experienced that and also the fact that I had to accept their trust unconditionally. Trust has always been a huge problem for me and I would do things to ensure I didn't have to take that chance of trusting someone because I didn't want to be hurt and trusting people can be a dangerous and hurtful thing. Does that make sense? Yet it was that one act of unconditional trust and forgiveness that literally ripped down that wall because I had to take a chance to trust them and it's made all the difference. When we can trust others with our hearts we can learn to trust ourselves. 

ND, you have been through so much during your life yet you still continue to strive to better yourself. Well done! I really admire that and when I think of what describe I think "Yep, that's normal. Forget about it. Water off a ducks back." You have no reason in the world to be ashamed. You are much more important than to let something like this define you and your progress. You're not letting anyone down here. People make mistakes and if you think you've got the market cornered on that then let's compare notes because I bet your life may seem pretty normal! :) Since I have quit I have spoken to people who are dealing with someone close to them who is struggling with addiction and they said "I told them that if it happens again they are out! That's it!". That is unconditional rejection and that will never work. Rejection is part of the problem! Trust, forgiveness, and unconditional love and support will do wonders. "Water off a ducks" ND. Taking a match to so much progress instantly is extreme, black and white thinking is it not? 

All the best ND. Today is a new day. 

Dave
9 years ago 0 55 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0

Foxman,

 

Please don’t get me wrong, for I fully respect AA and all the people who are sober today because they choose the 12 step program.  I have not read the big book and maybe I am ignorant to the meaning of some of the terminology used in it. 

My personal opinion; I just don’t like the negative connotations attached to words like; powerlessness, unmanageability, uncontrollable, incapability, etc.  Those words sometimes can be easily used by people as a crutch rather than take responsibility or accountability for ones actions (or failure to act).  I am a firm believer that positive re-enforcement yields positive results.

 

Swig      

 

9 years ago 0 55 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0

Nodrama,

 

Hey it’s just a bump in the road, use this experience positively to influence your mettle and carry on the good fight.  You have shown repeatedly that you are much stronger than alcohols desire.  For every day you’ve been sober, you’ve been more powerful than it.  If you had 60 days AF and this was a game, then you are winning by a score of 60 to 1.  This my friend, is not failure.

 

"You don't drown by falling in the water; you drown by staying there”   Ed Cole

 

 

Foxman,

 

Please don’t get me wrong, for I fully respect AA and all the people who are sober today because they choose the 12 step program.  I have not read the big book and maybe I am ignorant to the meaning of some of the terminology used in it. 

My personal opinion; I just don’t like the negative connotations attached to words like; powerlessness, unmanageability, uncontrollable, incapability, e

9 years ago 0 1562 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
You are doing great Nodrama! (your powerfulness against alcohol) 

I strongly recommend people reading the book Alcoholics Anonymous and understand the powerlessnes and un-managiablity concepts. Of course many problem drinkers may not be able to indentify with the illustrations there. But those who have this 'peculiar mental twist" that ND went through can understand. Especially with the example of the car salesman Jim who SUDDENLY thinks he can mix an ounce of whiskey with a glass of milk on a full stomach.
9 years ago 0 1562 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
But the fact is that later in the evening I took it out of the trash and had a drink. Then another one. Then my husband figured out something was up  he asked me I lied then came clean and we dumped it and threw out the bottle.

Thats what I would do too. Drink and lie about the quantity of alcohol I drank. And then I will do it all over again few days later. Once my wife threw the remining of the 12 pack beer into the woods by the retention pond next to our house. One sunday, I got so thirsty that I went into the woods, unmindful of snakes there and dug out the beers and drank them (because there is no sale here on Sundays then). I appreciate your honesty. As I said earlier, its you who go to decide which path you want to go.
9 years ago 0 421 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Thanks for the thoughts everyone. But the fact is that later in the evening I took it out of the trash and had a drink. Then another one. Then my husband figured out something was up  he asked me I lied then came clean and we dumped it and threw out the bottle. I am so sad. My family is very upset and now they don't trust me again and I can't blame them.  I don't know what happened other than I was posting about the miscarriage I had 3 yrs ago.  I am so ashamed of myself. I just feel like I threw it all away. 
9 years ago 0 55 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0

Hey Nodrama,

 

Rejecting temptation takes a lot of strength and effort, kudos to you for making the right choice and not allowing the devil out of the bottle.  

 

It may benefit you to closely analyze the whole incident and see what lessons can be learned.  I agree with Dave, something provoked your decision and action.  There was time between your first thoughts of wanting to drink and the actual driving to the liquor store, taking the bottle off the shelf, and making that purchase.  Throughout this time frame the desire for alcohol overpowered your will to fight its temptations.  If you can hone in on the root cause (how/why) then you can probably put control measures in place to help deal with similar triggers.

 

The disappointment and letdown to your family may have been the driving force to resist the temptation (which is great), but if you can think about your previous outcomes from drinking or getting drunk, your own self-motivation may also help increase that forces of resistance.

 

There is no sense in worrying over things that may happen in the future or what you are capable of doing.  You already know you are capable of taking a bottle off a shelf and getting drunk, how often have we all done that?  Is it inconceivable that it could possibly happen again?  I personally don’t believe that alcoholism is a disease, if it is, there should be a cure or some effective treatment for it by now, but in reality, there isn’t.  The best we can do is to manage it to the best of our ability and find support in doing so.  If we were all cured, we would never have to worry about “jumping into the darkness” ever again.  However, we can prepare a rescue plan to get us out as quickly as possible in the event we do fall.

 

You are doing great Nodrama! (your powerfulness against alcohol) 

 

“The greatest rewards in life are hardest earned.”  

 

9 years ago 0 1562 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
ND,
We in AA understand the powerlessness. We have seen scores of people do something like this. They struggle, almost go to package stores, stop turn around and some like you even buy booze and then dump them in the garbage. Some drink and come back with lot of guilt, shame and remorse. Don't let the that stop from trying. Explore all options. Its you who will have to decide which is the best path for you.

Reading this thread:

© Copyright 2024 Evolution Health. All Rights Reserved.