Ladies on a Mission: The Official Site

[NoraC]

Hello everyone. Just wanted to drop in and say hello.

TT - I liked your line about 'kid myself a bit about the possibilities.' Not an option is what I need to have locked in my brain.

[treetops]

Only happens when I am in a dark place Nora. And I soon activate the realities in my head. Funny thing is that it's not an issue when I am at social events where there is AL. Things have to look extremely bleak for. me to have the possibility play. Another thing I do is try to share this with my family or on MWO. Getting it out (the thinking) helps a lot, as does time. And when I say bleak I am referring to big issues not just the usual crap and stress and anxiety most of us face. I also remind myself that so many people in the world deal with serious issues without drinking.

[little beagle]

TT I think of that too. Many people do just deal. I too use that as a tool when thoughts of al enter my brain as I am dealing with difficult situations.
My luck it's great to see you. Congratulations on quadruple digits. An awesome feeling. Thank you. Yes I will call you. Tomorrow.

[treetops]

Saw your post on another Thread LB. Hope the damn it I want a drink feeling has passed. That's what I tried it write about above. Yes it is a bit slow here on the Gloamers thread and I don't always read posts until some time later because of the time difference and work.

[abcowboy]

This thread used to be hopping but I see not many are left. Guess the others are firm in their sobriety and have moved on.

[NoSugar]

Some are firm, some are drinking.

Most posts here were pretty involved and on point, which I loved. To keep a thread like that alive, I believe it needs people at various stages of quitting so we can pay it forward and backward. There are already good, strong threads for chatting and daily awareness.

I read an interesting article today: Is addiction really a disease? | Life and style | The Guardian. It is a very controversial topic but I am coming around to the idea that we really don't know and the way one person thinks about it can be totally different than for someone else. They need different tools to escape.

[NoraC]

NS - that was really interesting and I need to sit down & read it again when I'm alone and can concentrate.

That’s the crux of the matter for addicts who reject the yoke of fatalism implicit in the disease definition.

That fatalism remark really resonated for some reason.

[NoSugar]

I've never been able to get behind being powerless or in perpetual recovery. Fully embracing the disease model kind of puts you there. Addiction seems to me to be more than a mere habit, though, so I'm not entirely in that camp, either. Perhaps it has elements of both with a person's genetics, biochemistry, and psychology also coming into play. Our efforts to categorize and label might be leading us away from the truth of what is really going on.

[paulywogg]

I can't say it's a disease either, my mom uses that excuse to keep on drinking says she has a disease and it's"in her blood" to drink, give me a break,besides if I were diseased I wouldn't have waited until I was 31/32 to start drinking and smoking cigarettes it was an unfortunate choice and mistake I made

[abcowboy]

I'm with you NS, don't think of it as a disease per say, and it's more than a habit. I guess it comes down to what you classify addiction as? It staggers me to hear how many alcoholics are on other medications, not that there is anything wrong with medications properly prescribed, but it makes me wonder how many turned to alcohol as a "medication" as well. As I said before, I'm not really sure what anxiety is or feels like, but as it's been described to me I think people would turn to just about anything to rid themselves of those symptoms. Bubba thinks it more like "addictive personalities". If you are addicted to one thing, you probably suffer from other addictions as well so there is more to sobriety than just quitting drinking.

[NoraC]

I think that is key right there Cowboy - more to it than just quitting drinking. I know that I have been on a personal journey for a couple of years or so and maybe that is what the difference was this time that made it 'click'.

NS - I agree that I have a problem with saying that I'm powerless over it. I think you're right that our need to categorize/label is leading us away from the truth.

[NoSugar]

I think we all have to admit that after we take that first or second drink, most of us feel like it's not in our power to not drink more given those broken OFF switches, but that is entirely different than feeling powerless in regards to addiction itself. Even though we didn't know it, like Pav's avatar says, we had the power the whole time.

[abcowboy]

I think you're right NS, I knew somewhere in me I had the strength to quit, what I was powerless over was not knowing when I wouldn't be able to stop at one or two! I think most of us had times when we enjoyed "social drinking" and kept it under control, but then there were those most of the times when the off switch didn't work no matter how hard we tried, so now I think if I'm not able to turn it off why turn it on in the first place. It's so much easier than worrying if and when we'll be able to have that power.

[little beagle]

Cowboy I agree. Just don't flip the switch on in the first place. Then we won't have to worry about turning it back off.

[Pavati]

Hi, All:

I wandered back to a great discussion.

What confounds me are the people who "choose" to go back to alcohol, knowing that it will ruin their lives. My cousin's husband recently started drinking again, and his denial about it is breaking apart their marriage. That "selection" of alcohol over other things that are extremely important to people seems to be the dividing line for me. Although my marriage didn't break up, I know that I made some decisions that put alcohol first for me - over family and relationships. I'm not sure why I was able to walk away with a lot of work but relative ease, and some people aren't.

Anyway - love to the Gloamers. I do miss this thread.

xo
Pav