There is a story in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous where a man thought he could have a drink of whiskey and milk! Surely this would be a sensible combination. Another woman who was pregnant thought that she could drink Kalua and vodka. We come up with all sorts of creative ideas when it comes to drinking. A second woman took to filling up baby bottles with vodka and keeping them in the refrigerator so her husband wouldn’t think she was going to the liquor cabinet.
Thank God that these unborn children reportedly did not end up with fetal alcohol syndrome. Unless one has had a psychic change they will continue to drink while trying to hide their consumption from friends and family members. I heard another person share how they would order a drink, gulp it down and tell the bartender that they spilled it and needed another drink right away. The mind of a chronic alcoholic is a dangerous thing.
We are willing to go to any lengths to protect what we perceive as our inalienable right to drink ourselves to death. We lie, cheat and steal just to satisfy the phenomena of craving that is triggered when stimulated by alcohol. At some point, usually when we are approaching the blackout stage of a drinking bout, we would probably do anything for a drink. I’m not talking about a 2-ounce drink, I’m talking about a quart of liquor. This amount may get us through the evening. As we continue to consume alcohol our tolerance level increases. This means that it takes more of the substance to achieve the desired effect we are chasing. We are always chasing that sense of ease and comfort that came with the first drink in our earlier days of our drinking career. The feeling that all was well with the world became a powerful hook to keep us continually drinking.
An alcoholic mind is an expert on rationalization. We can justify any type of inappropriate behavior and conduct. We drink to be happy. We drink because we are sad. We drink to ease our social anxiety issues. We get drunk before the party so that when we arrive, we are ok to be around people. Actually, we need no excuse to drink. That’s just what alcoholics do. Oh, the enablers I had who felt sorry for me and my tale of woe. They would make me another drink to help ease my fake emotional pain.
Recovery offers the alcoholic a way out of this treacherous maze they are trapped in. It is nothing shirt of a major miracle when we no longer reach for the bottle. This psychic change comes about by working the 12 steps and applying the principles of the program to our lives. We no longer have to leave as beasts roaming the world in search of our next drink. We are safe and protected from alcohol as long as we remain in fit spiritual condition.
