Quote Originally Posted by CoventryCat86 View Post
LMAO, great story!

I've never quite understood the all or nothing drinking thing.....lots of people are missing out on some of the finer things in life, like an occasional glass of good scotch or a glass of a fine wine when they go the AA route of "I can't have another drop of alcohol for as long as I live" instead of simply exercising some self control.

Oh well, their loss.
Will - I'm right there with you... It is a very sensitive issue for me and my family...


Bill - imagine being deprived of the one thing that you are compelled to believe is absolutely what you need but know that if you take one drink it will result in you losing everything you have. I cannot think you can imagine it because it seems so unreal...

I, like you, do not have a problem with alcohol consumption. It's very easy for me to say that an alcoholic should exercise "self control" to resolve their "problem". However - I once had a very deep discussion with a recovering alcoholic and he put it into better perspective for me.

He told me - "You know when you go to a bar - you can sit down, have a beer or two - and get up and leave with a half of a beer in your glass?" I said "Of course. And I can't understand how others are not able to do that either". He reponded, "Well - not only can I not leave my half of a beer behind, but I fight with everything I have inside of me to not drink all of those other half beers everyone else left behind..."

You should be absolutely grateful you don't have the disease of alcoholism - so that you can enjoy an occasional dram of scotch, or a nice glass of wine. With alcoholism there is no "control". There is only complete abstinance - for the rest of their life. Every recovering alcoholic I know literally cannot touch a drop of alcohol or they could seriously relapse - with literally the compulsion being as strong decades later as the day after they quit ...

...up to and including alcohol cooked into their food.