Quit Alcohol? Drugs? Are You Crazy?
A Few Important Questions To Ask Yourself
Photo by the Author
I hit bottom with my drinking and drugging in 1989.
I’d previously hit some bottoms that had trap doors. I slid right through, and bam!, each one lower than the previous.
The one I hit in ’89 wouldn’t budge.
Here's what I did:
I had to ask myself some hard questions.
These questions were formulated after I learned this cold, hard fact:
Alcoholism is a progressive, fatal illness that cannot be cured, is the most important thing I ever learned.
Although it can’t be cured, it can be arrested by complete abstinence from drinking.
These are some of the questions I did my best to look in the eye when I learned that my life was at stake. I would recommend them as very useful considerations if you truly want to face alcoholism:
Do I want to deal with that fact now, or play the roulette wheel in the hopes that I’ll get to it later, before landing in a hospital, jail, or the morgue?
Do I want to stay alive? Am I willing to believe there may be a better way to live, and that I could enjoy life?
Who has my back? Who, among my partying friends, will support me all the way if I get sober? Do I have some fair-weather friends?
Am I willing to make significant changes? Would I possibly change jobs, leave a relationship, end friendships, or change up the places where I hang out? Some of that, maybe even all of it?
Can I go for one day without a drink or a drug? Will I try to do that?
That’s some heavy-duty stuff, right?
Yeah, it is. That’s because it’s life-and-death stuff.
I had a hard time swallowing that one. I was just out to party, to have a good time. How did I get to a situation where I was on a death spiral?
My suggestion is to wrestle with those questions. Bounce them off of anyone you can trust to give you the straight dope.
I learned that there is no shame in asking for help.
If you don’t like how some of those questions make you feel, that they hit too close to home, don’t duck them.
Reach out for help. It’ll be the best thing you ever did.
That last one is the most important in many ways. Can I go for one day without a drink or a drug?
I learned that I could. I’ve repeated that for the past 12,300+ consecutive days.
I’ve asked for a lot of help along the way. And I learned tools to deal with every situation that life has thrown at me so far.
You may need a detox of doctor’s care. You can get that, but you’ll need to ask for it in no uncertain terms.
“I need help” may be the most important words you’ll ever say.
Can you go for one day without a drink or a drug? If you can, you can get and stay sober.
I’ll bet you can.
That’s how it works.