Recovery From Alcoholism
Get Sober And Stay Sober
It's Possible
Maybe you've wondered if recovery from alcoholism is possible in your circumstances. Or maybe you've wondered if you have a drinking problem that's bad enough to need professional help. It's hard to see if there's a problem with alcohol because the use of alcohol is woven into every part of our culture. It's everywhere you turn. There are more triggers to drink than not to drink.
Most people who drink alcohol do so socially. But obviously, many people misuse or abuse alcohol. And at least 10% of those progress into addiction to alcohol and the disease of alcoholism. For those people, professional treatment is the safest, most effective way to recover and stay recovered.
Social Use, Abuse & Addiction/Alcoholism
Take the challenge. Which of these best describes you?
- You drink socially to enhance your enjoyment of normally pleasurable experiences. You don't have problems associated with drinking. You don't feel out of control or that you have had too much to drink. You don't think about how much or how often you or others drink. No one complains about your drinking.
- You abuse alcohol to feel better about yourself or some part of your life. When you experience problems because of your drinking, you set limits on how much and how often you drink. You know what your limits are and stick to them…unless there's a good reason not to. When others complain about your drinking, you see the concern for your well-being behind the complaints.
- You continue to drink in spite of experiencing negative consequences. Although you set limits on how much or how often you will drink, you exceed those limits unexpectedly. You break promises that you will drink in moderation. You feel guilty about your drinking but still don't change the way you drink. You resent, belittle and ignore comments and complaints about your drinking.
If the third paragraph sounds like you, the chances are great that you have the disease known as alcoholism. Recovery from alcoholism involves stopping alcohol use and finding a way to stay stopped. That requires change…and professional help makes that happen.
Abstinence vs. Recovery
It is possible to become abstinent without recovering from the very illness that made you sick to begin with. Abstinence on its own is nearly impossible to maintain. Abstinence-only sobriety doesn't bring the quality of life you get from recovery from alcoholism. And it leaves you at risk for relapse.
Characteristics of abstinence:
- Maintaining abstinence because to drink would probably cause more problems.
- A dislike of being sober, missing getting high and feeling disappointed in or angry about being abstinent.
- Believing that strong will-power is enough to continue abstinence.
- A willingness and desire to drink again if the same old problems wouldn't recur.
Characteristics of recovery:
- Maintaining abstinence because to drink again would interfere with the quality of a sober life.
- Enjoying sobriety and being grateful to have it; enjoying your life.
- Being open and teachable, applying will power to working a recovery program rather than on a gritted teeth effort to stay sober on your own.
- Having freedom from addiction and from relapse.
Stepping out of alcoholism into abstinence and eventually into recovery doesn't happen accidentally or magically. It takes time, patience, willingness and action. It takes love, truthfulness, hope and courage. And it takes the assistance and encouragement of a professional.
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and begin taking those steps to recovery from alcoholism.
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