I am grateful for what I learned in my early days of recovery and the wonderful gift of sobriety that I was given. Thanks to being introduced to the 12 steps in the way that I was I was able to put the drinking behind me and move on with my life. Drinking is actually a non-issue now.
That is the way it is supposed to be. That is the way it is presented in the Big Book. That is the way it happened in early AA, and still happens today to many of us. The strange thing is that many people in AA just don't get it - they never get to the point where drinking is not the issue. They just go through life hoping and praying that they can stay sober, but they dare not have any confidence in that possibility, as if that would somehow jinx it and they would end up drunk.
Don't get me wrong; I am not criticizing them or judging them. It is actually not their fault. It is the way they learned it from their sponsors and listening to others in meetings. People sometimes present our program as if there is only a small chance of success and you just sort of show up and hope for the best. That is so wrong. The 12 step program works. It is a proven program. The cover page of the Big Book says "the story of how many thousands of men and women have recoverd from alcoholism."
In the chapter called How It Works it says "those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program." So we know from reading that why some don't recover. It also says it is usually those who are not able to be honest with themselves, and for those it is not their fault - they seem to have been born that way. So unless you are not capable of being honest with yourself you can recover through the 12 steps. It works. It really does.
In my area there aren't many of us who have confidence in our sobriety, and that really saddens me. We have some people who have been sober for many years and they have absolutely no message of hope to carry. I feel sorry for them. They are so scared that they will accidently wind up drunk. I wish I could pound it into their thick skulls that we have a choice. Each day we get to choose. We can drink or we can stay sober. As for me I made a decision long ago that drinking is not an option. Those who seem to worry about drinking apparently have not totally taken that option off the table. That indicates to me they possibly have not actually taken the first step. I know from the great storehouse of evidence from my past that I cannot drink and live. I totally convinced myself and admitted that I was powerless over alcohol and that my life was unmanageable, then I moved on to step two. It is not something I have to think about or consider at this point in my life. I don't drink because I made a decision to live over 25 years ago. I am a non-drinker, so what is there to worry about? I will always have a choice about whether or not I take that first drink, therefore it is a non-issue. Now I just have to struggle with life - just like everyone else in the world. Drinking is not the issue - the issue is living life on life's terms, and that is a real challenge. I may never master that one.
