Alcoholism Support Group
Alcoholism is the continued consumption of alcoholic beverages, even when it is negatively affecting your health, work, relationships and life. If you think alcohol is causing you to lose control, it's time to seek help. Our group is a safe place to vent, check in, get back up if you fall, and reach sobriety.
Normally I would post a question like this in "aafriends" but wanted to get a more of a cross section of input whatever way you choose to stay sober.
I found recovery through the AA 12 step program and was at a meeting the other day. The topic was what are you grateful for and a few shared that they are grateful for being alcoholic. When it came time for me to share I mentioned I'm defiantly NOT grateful that I have the illness because of what it did to myself and others around me from family, relationships, and so on. With my history the constant craving and obsession that came along with it for many years when I crossed that line into alcoholism. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy so to speak. I was either doing some type of mind altering substance or thinking about it 24/7 for many years.
As I went on to share one of the main things I am grateful for is finding the acceptance to deal with it by taking a little direction and finding a HP to help me guide through the process that there was a way to get out of the dilemma I was in.
After the meeting a few people came up to me and thanked me for sharing what I did because it bothered them and couldn't understand why someone would be grateful to have such a devastating illness and everything that came alone with it.
So what's your take on the subject?
I found recovery through the AA 12 step program and was at a meeting the other day. The topic was what are you grateful for and a few shared that they are grateful for being alcoholic. When it came time for me to share I mentioned I'm defiantly NOT grateful that I have the illness because of what it did to myself and others around me from family, relationships, and so on. With my history the constant craving and obsession that came along with it for many years when I crossed that line into alcoholism. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy so to speak. I was either doing some type of mind altering substance or thinking about it 24/7 for many years.
As I went on to share one of the main things I am grateful for is finding the acceptance to deal with it by taking a little direction and finding a HP to help me guide through the process that there was a way to get out of the dilemma I was in.
After the meeting a few people came up to me and thanked me for sharing what I did because it bothered them and couldn't understand why someone would be grateful to have such a devastating illness and everything that came alone with it.
So what's your take on the subject?
The God of my understanding is patient, creative, and relentless. He never gives up. I turned up my nose and turned my back on many opportunities God offered me to accept His blessings. I decided to walk all the way to the hell of alcoholism before I finally was ready to gratefully accept the gift of a happy and useful life.
Thanks for posting -- it's a great topic!
Phil
I would say the same as you that I am not grateful to be an alcoholic but, given that I am, I am grateful that I know and accept that and have found a way to recover. When I was drinking and was first in recovery I hated the fact that I was an alcoholic but as I have been in recovery longer I have become more ambivalent about it. I am not pleased that I am an alcoholic but I am also not angry, resentful, negative about it either. I am accepting of what is and the opportunity to make the best out of it.
Nice topic!
I have some real regrets about how my drinking affected how I treated my family especially my kids -- and myself.
I also have a sense of well being, satisfaction and joy for having quit.
No offense to Nicky's speculation but would love to know what they said.
Grateful for the darkest period of my life?......No. I have forgiven myself for what I did to others but will not forget and with that I must live and they must live with the results of my actions or lack there of. "Grateful"? Not in a million years.
I spent a long time in active alcoholism which caused others pain and heartace That reason alone is enough to wish i had not encountered alcoholism
Very glad not to be there today and I know i can't change the past
Then I found Alcohol and as they say "my cup was full" of both a drunk brain and all of the inconsistencies.
But thank God I got sober very young after a short but eventful drunken History lol highlighted mostly by utter disbelief in how I was reacting to life.
So yes being raised in a Alcoholic home with a Eisenhower and Roosevelt personality and then Finding a solution and erasing, or at least becoming aware of the inconsistencies I held as truth gives me much gratitude for a life lived as least in a more honorable and truthful fashion about how important finding a spiritual outlet that has quickened the shedding of so many lies my society has adopted as truth and I followed unquestionably till I got sober.
So in closing I'd like to say :))))
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFKtZTlSHUA
Out of me admitting I'm an alcoholic, came more gifts and healing than I would have time to list. So yea, I'm a grateful recovering alcoholic.
I absolutely agree with Reply#2
I would have rather been dealt an easier, softer way. However, it seems like even the so called normies are fucked up with something.
In being hardwired the way I was''''' my dis~~~~ease would have popped its ugly self out in some other way.
Sooooo, my gratitude would be the awareness that the steps and AA gave me. I have the tools to have some inner peace that I may have never discovered if alcoholism wasn't at the forefront of my disorder.
Lates buddy,,,Go wolverines,,,,DAMMIT...LMFAO
Billy
Recovery rocks :)
Like you, I wouldn't wish it on anyone. If there's one thing I regret, it's the life that I missed while I was busy drinking. Missed opportunities, unfulfilled friendships and things I can't get back. But the growth gained from facing the truth about myself has been invaluable.