aa Spoken Here Community Group
Fellowship Where you can share your thoughts, feelings, stories and get support to gain and continue sobriety.
When I first came around AA I had no idea what these terms meant and how they effected me. Was not till I started on the road to recovery that I realised to understand the difference was very important. It meant I was able to treat the cause and not the symptom.
For me cravings starts once I put drink in, I do not crave alcohol if I have not had a drink. As the good Dr says on page XXVIII paragraph 5 'All these, and many others, have one symptom in common: they cannot start drinking without developing the phenomenon of craving...' IE I took the drink then the craving started.
Knowing this I could with confidence say OK I have no alcohol in my system so I do not crave alcohol. Why is it then that I want alcohol if it is not a craving then what is it???
For me this was the obsession which on page 36 second paragraph is illustrated "Suddenly the thought crossed my mind that if I were to put an ounce of whiskey in my milk it couldn't hurt me on a full stomach. I ordered a whiskey and poured it into the milk. I vaguely sense I was not being any too smart, but I reassured as I was taking the whiskey on a full stomach. The experiment went so well that I ordered another whiskey and poured it into more milk. That didn't seem to bother me so I tried another."
Therefore once I put the drink down I had to treat the mental obsession to stay stopped.
G8
For me cravings starts once I put drink in, I do not crave alcohol if I have not had a drink. As the good Dr says on page XXVIII paragraph 5 'All these, and many others, have one symptom in common: they cannot start drinking without developing the phenomenon of craving...' IE I took the drink then the craving started.
Knowing this I could with confidence say OK I have no alcohol in my system so I do not crave alcohol. Why is it then that I want alcohol if it is not a craving then what is it???
For me this was the obsession which on page 36 second paragraph is illustrated "Suddenly the thought crossed my mind that if I were to put an ounce of whiskey in my milk it couldn't hurt me on a full stomach. I ordered a whiskey and poured it into the milk. I vaguely sense I was not being any too smart, but I reassured as I was taking the whiskey on a full stomach. The experiment went so well that I ordered another whiskey and poured it into more milk. That didn't seem to bother me so I tried another."
Therefore once I put the drink down I had to treat the mental obsession to stay stopped.
G8
The only way I know to treat the physical craving is abstinence but the mental obsession is the thing that stops me from being able to maintain that abstinence. Therefore as you say the obsession is what I needed to find a solution to. Not drinking was not enough to assure my long term sobriety.
Of course, Dr Bob himself confuses the matter a little (p181) "unlike most of our crowd, I did not get over my craving much..." Words words words...important to grasp the meaning then kind of hold it loosely rather than cling sometimes, I think! Can't be useful if I have a stick in my ass hehe :o)
Thanks G
P
Saved my life being taken through this stuff and it's the first thing I show others when they ask...just there have been moments in my journey where I've kind of been forced to be flexible in how I talk about it, eh?
Have a great weekend all
P
Don Ks Annotated Foreword & Doctor's Opinion 3 12 ... - Route164
http://www.route164.net/files/Don_Ks_Annotated_Foreword_Doctors_Opinion_070312.pdf