EXHAUSTION – Allowing yourself to become overly tired or in poor health. Some Alcoholics are also prone to work addictions – perhaps in a hurry to make up for lost time. Good health and enough rest are important. If you feel well you are more apt to think well. Feel poorly and your thinking is apt to deteriorate. Feel bad enough and you might begin thinking a drink couldn’t make it any worse.
DISHONESTY – This begins with a pattern of unnecessary little lies and deceits with fellow workers, friends, and family. Then come important lies to yourself. This is called “rationalizing” – making excuses for not doing what you don’t want to do, or for doing what you know you should not do.
IMPATIENCE – Things are not happening fast enough. Or, others are not doing what they should or what you want them to do.
ARGUMENTATIVENESS – Arguing small and ridiculous points of view indicates a need to always be right. “Why don’t you be reasonable and agree with me?” Looking for an excuse to drink?
DEPRESSION – Unreasonable and unaccountable despair may occur in cycles and should be dealt with – talked about.
FRUSTRATION – At people and also because things may not be going your way. Remember — everything is not going to be just the way you want it to be.
SELF-PITY – “Why do these things happen to me?” “Why must I be an alcoholic?” Nobody appreciates all I am doing – for them?
COCKINESS – Got it made – no longer fear alcoholism – going into drinking situations to prove to others you have no problem. Do this often enough and it will wear down your defenses.
COMPLACENCY – “Drinking was the furthest thing from my mind.” Not drinking was no longer a conscious thought, either. It is dangerous to let up on disciplines just because everything is going well. Always to have a little fear is a good thing. More relapses occur when things are going well than otherwise.
EXPECTING TOO MUCH FROM OTHERS – “I’ve changed; why hasn’t everyone else?” It’s a plus if they do, but it is still your problem if they do not. They may not trust you yet, may still be looking for further proof. You cannot expect others to change their style of life just because you have.
LETTING UP ON DISCIPLINES – Prayer, meditation, daily inventory, AA attendance. This can stem either from complacency or boredom. You cannot afford to be bored with your program. The cost of relapse is always too great.
USE OF MOOD-ALTERING CHEMICALS – You may feel the need to ease things with a pill, and your doctor may go along with you. You may never have had a problem with chemicals other than alcohol, but you can easily lose sobriety starting this way – about the most subtle way of having a relapse. Remember you will be cheating! The reverse of this is true for drug-dependent persons who start to drink.
WANTING TOO MUCH – Do not set goals you cannot reach with normal effort. Do not expect too much. It’s always great when good things you were not expecting happen. You will get what you are entitled to as long as you do your best, but maybe not as soon as you think you should. “Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have.”
FORGETTING GRATITUDE – You may be looking negatively on your life, concentrating on problems that still are not totally corrected. Nobody wants to be a Pollyanna – but it is good to remember where you started from, and how much better life is now.
“IT CAN’T HAPPEN TO ME” – This is dangerous thinking. Almost anything can happen to you if you get careless. Remember you have a progressive disease, and you will be in worse shape if you relapse.
OMNIPOTENCE – This is a feeling that results from a combination of many of the above. You now have all the answers for yourself and others. No one can tell you anything. You ignore suggestions or advice from others. Relapse is probably imminent unless drastic change takes place.
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Hi!
Emmie W., BIPOC, Canadian- Caribbean, 44 years old. I've lived and traveled all over the world, now settled in Australia for the last 16 years. I am so grateful to be here, alive, and sober.
I worked in technology most of my life so I'm VERY comfortable with any form of communication. I've found Google Meet to be the best as it's free and without a time limit like zoom. But I'm happy to meet you on any platform you're comfortable with.
It's the joy of my life to sponsor another and give what was so freely given to me. I sponsor the "old way" by the Big book and will give you a solid, bare bones sobriety that will survive as a foundation to build your new life around.
This can only work if you are willing to go to any lengths to be sober. If you're not ready, or not willing, I cannot help you.
I love AA and feel a responsibility to ensure that the hand of AA is always there for the next wonderful human who reaches out to grasp it.
Yours in service,
Emmie
I went to my first AA meeting 6th April 1991 and I've kept coming back since and with the help of AA & my Higher Power I have not had a drink a day at a time. I did not drink every day but I needed to drink at weekends to keep me sane to help release the madness in my head. I drank mainly in pubs but I remember thinking if I keep drinking I ll have to drink at home. I did not like being drunk in public (my pride). I could no longer keep up the pretense of being ok when internally I was cracking up. At the end I was suicidal & afraid to die in case I went somewhere worse. Thanks to prayers & my Higher power I found AA and got a fellowship & a program for living.