Your plans are subject to change once alcohol joins the party. You have the phenomenon of craving, or, if you will, a powerlessness over alcohol. You, on the other hand, were born chemically different. Joe Smith sips a cocktail or two, goes home, sleeps and arrives at work fresh the next morning. What distinguishes a normal drinker from an alcoholic is that an average drinker follows through with the game plan. Six hours later, the bar is closing as fast as your consciousness. It’s a great plan, but it has one fatal flaw – you’re an alcoholic. I’ll leave at a reasonable hour, rest up and have a better day tomorrow.
That’s when an idea strikes – I’m gonna go by the bar and have a couple drinks. On top of that, your receptionist commented about, “…having a case of the Mondays.” The clock moved forward slower than the traffic jam your car currently occupies. You just got off work, and the boss tore into you about coming in late that day. The best example of this principle in practice is getting drunk on accident. But most of the time, once my lips touched whiskey, I’d drink like a thirsty dolphin. Sure, there were times when I’d have a couple beers. Looking back on my own drinking history, at least what I remember of it, I can see this phenomenon at work. Cravings in an alcoholic are so intense that the ability to resist is almost impossible, hence Bill Wilson’s use of the word ‘powerless.’ Powerlessness steps into the picture here. (if you would like to read the medical explanation and research, see link below). This craving doesn’t always occur, which is why some alcoholics can, on occasion, drink like normal people. Let’s just say that once an alcoholic takes a drink, a chemical reaction occurs within that body, setting off an intense craving for more. I’d like you to stay awake for this article. I’m not going to dive into the medical explanation of why alcoholics are powerless over alcohol. Yet I’d never heard someone with 20+ years summarize powerlessness so elegantly. I’d been involved in the sober community on and off for years. Now that I was clean, if I chose to drink or drug again, that was my decision.” “My sponsor told me that, since I was sober, I was powerless over alcohol and drugs. No one said it better than Tim H., an oldtimer who told his story one night at Discovery Place. Just what does ‘powerless’ mean as it pertains to the first step? Am I really helpless in this battle against alcoholism?
Sometimes it feels like oldtimers and newcomers cannot agree on this idea as it relates to recovery. I’ve heard heated post meeting debates on this topic. The concept of powerlessness is always a hot button topic amongst those sober (and not sober).