I went to a conference on alcohol and other drugs when I was a few years sober and working for a rehab. At one session, a doctor running a clinic that people were referred to after being caught drunk driving. He said they advised all of them to go to AA but hardly nobody ever did. As about the only AA member there, that sounded like a bit of a dig, so I asked him why he thought they didn't when he asked for questions. He seemed to ponder it for a moment and replied, "I don't think it's because they are afraid it won't work. I think they are afraid it will." It seems to me this gets to the core of why few alcoholics get to AA, and why many don't stick after getting here. It seems that we often take a desire to stop drinking for granted when few alcoholics have one and those who do can easily lose it, what I see as the real danger behind a slip. Even those who do want to stop, may leave AA because they think they are cured when the compulsion to drink leaves, if they still think that is what they are here for. AA is not about keeping the plug in the jug. It is about working the steps and changing our lives so that sobriety becomes so nice that making ourselves sick again loses all attraction. |