ALCOHOLISM and ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
Alcohol is the last thing that will be mentioned here, so we'll talk about it then, the last thing. Let's start with who is an alcoholic, someone who drinks and makes a mess of his / her life? That's something that happens only towards the end. It starts when the alcoholic is born. We'll call the individual an "alcoholic" because, eventually the individual will drink and mess his / her life.
There are two things an alcoholic is born with, the first being, warped thinking and the second a serious physical allergy, a chemical reaction which only activates when the "alcoholic" eventually drinks. So lets get back to the first fact and a very important feature of the illness, alcoholism, the warped thinking.
This warped thinking starts as early as you can begin to think, at a very early age. Primary school days is a good place to start. A lot of lying at home about school and the similar lies at school about home. Petty thefts may be included, silly achievements of avoiding the bus conductor to save the bus fare home and the excuse that the bus was crowded and you couldn't reach the conductor to buy a ticket. But the achievement of dodging the conductor would be my secret success story. This is followed by cheating at exams and then it becomes such an "obsessive" habit that studying for any exam is a futile exercise and copying is the easier way out. And followed by the bragging of the methods used and the skills used to avoid getting caught are the centre of discussions of the drinking bouts just started after the exams to celebrate the copying feats.
Now the next stage of life appears which is the stage of freedom of pocket money and freedom of parental control and restrictions of family. Youth brings dedication, energy and a lot of hard work for only one goal, a good drink at the weekend initially since at this stage its still a social activity and there are other things which are important and drinking has not become the primary focus of the alcoholic's life. As time passes, the hard work, dedication and sincerity pays off and promotions, higher pay packets and a few perks, elevate our life style and also elevates the frequency of drinking, which is now attached to the responsibility of the job and position. At this time, drinking is causing a few embarrassing situations but those situations being outside the business lunch occasion gets little attention and many lame excuses are used to cover up the embarrassment. The major one being, I hadn't eaten the whole day and drinking on an empty stomach hit me hard and so this and that happened.
Many people associate alcoholics with heavy daily drinking, that is true for many cases. But it's not about heavy daily drinking, even drinking twice a week, drinking as if the bottle in front of me is the last one on this planet. Drinking and then causing a scene either at home or the friend's home or the bar or pub. Drinking, eating heavily and then throwing up and making a big mess wherever. These are some of the signs of an alcoholic. There is no one particular definition of an alcoholic. If drinking causes a serious mood alterations and leads to disastrous events, then the chances are that the person is an alcoholic. The first part of the disease or illness is now prominently on the alcoholic level. Now the term obsession takes a new meaning. The alcoholic is obsessed about drinking and the first thought that comes to mind as soon as he wakes up is what will I drink today? Who will I drink with today? Where will I drink today? and this goes on till he / she finds the answers to these questions and finally the answer being sitting to drink with or without someone, in a bar or at home and depending on his / her finances, the quality of alcohol. Initially the quality is premium, the company is friendly and the location, an exclusive club or restaurant or at a colleague's residence, which will all eventually lead to progressive degradation. The obsession goes on every day and if the alcoholic's drinking progresses, it changes from weekly to daily to afternoon and finally starting at the waking of the day and ending with a blackout or total drunken stupor.
Let's talk about the second aspect of this disease or illness. The physical allergy. This is something we have no control over. As mentioned above the obsession forces me to drink against all my best intentions and after knowing what happened the previous night, the alcoholic still goes to drink because the mind says, "one drink won't do any harm" and with that good thought the alcoholic goes and orders just one drink and as his lips touch the glass and the first flow of alcohol into the body starts the second and uncontrollable aspect of alcoholism. Something says that one drink is enough, one more is needed to feel good after a hard day's work or to forget the stress of a troublesome boss or to feel strong enough to handle the financial crisis that the family is going through. Just one more drink and then just one more and then just one more and the count is lost and the alcoholic is drunk. Let's not get into the family, work, social and other areas that are messed up once that alcoholic is on the drinking binge. It usually ends in death after many attempts to physically heal the alcoholic through unsuccessful hospital and other medical assistance.
Alcoholics Anonymous has a solution to this problem, and the program tells me that I need to stop drinking just for today. That initially sounds ridiculous, not drinking just for today. What about tomorrow? When tomorrow becomes today, repeat, I will not drink today and so life goes on by just staying away from that first dangerous fatal drink today or if today's difficult in the beginning then for an hour till a day goes through and many people have successfully stayed away from drinking adopting this simple mantra. By not consuming any alcohol I am able to keep that physical allergy at bay. The alcoholic is not drinking so his body is not asking for alcohol so the allergy is silent and will remain so as long as that first drink does not enter the body to trigger that allergy. What now requires on going treatment is that mental obsession. The first part of the illness need continuous healing, repairing all the damage done during the drinking days. Healing of relationships in the immediate family, husband coming back to his wife and children. The next, wanting to get gainfully employed to bring in sufficient remuneration to look after the family's needs. In many instances this area to requires healing as the alcoholic is going back to his old job where there are a lot of financial irregularities amongst his colleagues and this will require a lot of mental strength to go back and gain the respect and trust of all the authorities at the work place. One day at a time, the alcoholic is able to make a comeback and eventually lead a normal life like anyone else.
Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help other to recover from alcoholism.
The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for A.A. membership: A.A. is self-supporting through their own contributions. The primary purpose is to stay sober and to help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.
This article is the personal opinion of the writer and is not the official opinion of Alcoholics Anonymous. For more details call on 92232 03441 or A.A. on 2684 44 00
Alcohol is the last thing that will be mentioned here, so we'll talk about it then, the last thing. Let's start with who is an alcoholic, someone who drinks and makes a mess of his / her life? That's something that happens only towards the end. It starts when the alcoholic is born. We'll call the individual an "alcoholic" because, eventually the individual will drink and mess his / her life.
There are two things an alcoholic is born with, the first being, warped thinking and the second a serious physical allergy, a chemical reaction which only activates when the "alcoholic" eventually drinks. So lets get back to the first fact and a very important feature of the illness, alcoholism, the warped thinking.
This warped thinking starts as early as you can begin to think, at a very early age. Primary school days is a good place to start. A lot of lying at home about school and the similar lies at school about home. Petty thefts may be included, silly achievements of avoiding the bus conductor to save the bus fare home and the excuse that the bus was crowded and you couldn't reach the conductor to buy a ticket. But the achievement of dodging the conductor would be my secret success story. This is followed by cheating at exams and then it becomes such an "obsessive" habit that studying for any exam is a futile exercise and copying is the easier way out. And followed by the bragging of the methods used and the skills used to avoid getting caught are the centre of discussions of the drinking bouts just started after the exams to celebrate the copying feats.
Now the next stage of life appears which is the stage of freedom of pocket money and freedom of parental control and restrictions of family. Youth brings dedication, energy and a lot of hard work for only one goal, a good drink at the weekend initially since at this stage its still a social activity and there are other things which are important and drinking has not become the primary focus of the alcoholic's life. As time passes, the hard work, dedication and sincerity pays off and promotions, higher pay packets and a few perks, elevate our life style and also elevates the frequency of drinking, which is now attached to the responsibility of the job and position. At this time, drinking is causing a few embarrassing situations but those situations being outside the business lunch occasion gets little attention and many lame excuses are used to cover up the embarrassment. The major one being, I hadn't eaten the whole day and drinking on an empty stomach hit me hard and so this and that happened.
Many people associate alcoholics with heavy daily drinking, that is true for many cases. But it's not about heavy daily drinking, even drinking twice a week, drinking as if the bottle in front of me is the last one on this planet. Drinking and then causing a scene either at home or the friend's home or the bar or pub. Drinking, eating heavily and then throwing up and making a big mess wherever. These are some of the signs of an alcoholic. There is no one particular definition of an alcoholic. If drinking causes a serious mood alterations and leads to disastrous events, then the chances are that the person is an alcoholic. The first part of the disease or illness is now prominently on the alcoholic level. Now the term obsession takes a new meaning. The alcoholic is obsessed about drinking and the first thought that comes to mind as soon as he wakes up is what will I drink today? Who will I drink with today? Where will I drink today? and this goes on till he / she finds the answers to these questions and finally the answer being sitting to drink with or without someone, in a bar or at home and depending on his / her finances, the quality of alcohol. Initially the quality is premium, the company is friendly and the location, an exclusive club or restaurant or at a colleague's residence, which will all eventually lead to progressive degradation. The obsession goes on every day and if the alcoholic's drinking progresses, it changes from weekly to daily to afternoon and finally starting at the waking of the day and ending with a blackout or total drunken stupor.
Let's talk about the second aspect of this disease or illness. The physical allergy. This is something we have no control over. As mentioned above the obsession forces me to drink against all my best intentions and after knowing what happened the previous night, the alcoholic still goes to drink because the mind says, "one drink won't do any harm" and with that good thought the alcoholic goes and orders just one drink and as his lips touch the glass and the first flow of alcohol into the body starts the second and uncontrollable aspect of alcoholism. Something says that one drink is enough, one more is needed to feel good after a hard day's work or to forget the stress of a troublesome boss or to feel strong enough to handle the financial crisis that the family is going through. Just one more drink and then just one more and then just one more and the count is lost and the alcoholic is drunk. Let's not get into the family, work, social and other areas that are messed up once that alcoholic is on the drinking binge. It usually ends in death after many attempts to physically heal the alcoholic through unsuccessful hospital and other medical assistance.
Alcoholics Anonymous has a solution to this problem, and the program tells me that I need to stop drinking just for today. That initially sounds ridiculous, not drinking just for today. What about tomorrow? When tomorrow becomes today, repeat, I will not drink today and so life goes on by just staying away from that first dangerous fatal drink today or if today's difficult in the beginning then for an hour till a day goes through and many people have successfully stayed away from drinking adopting this simple mantra. By not consuming any alcohol I am able to keep that physical allergy at bay. The alcoholic is not drinking so his body is not asking for alcohol so the allergy is silent and will remain so as long as that first drink does not enter the body to trigger that allergy. What now requires on going treatment is that mental obsession. The first part of the illness need continuous healing, repairing all the damage done during the drinking days. Healing of relationships in the immediate family, husband coming back to his wife and children. The next, wanting to get gainfully employed to bring in sufficient remuneration to look after the family's needs. In many instances this area to requires healing as the alcoholic is going back to his old job where there are a lot of financial irregularities amongst his colleagues and this will require a lot of mental strength to go back and gain the respect and trust of all the authorities at the work place. One day at a time, the alcoholic is able to make a comeback and eventually lead a normal life like anyone else.
Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help other to recover from alcoholism.
The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for A.A. membership: A.A. is self-supporting through their own contributions. The primary purpose is to stay sober and to help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.
This article is the personal opinion of the writer and is not the official opinion of Alcoholics Anonymous. For more details call on 92232 03441 or A.A. on 2684 44 00