Expert: Clyde - 2/8/2009

Question
i'm 23 yo and i think i have a problem.

ever since i turned 21 i haven't gone more than a 2 week consecutive period without getting drunk. beer, bourbon, scotch, rum is usually the poison i pick. just last week i binged on 1.5 liters of vodka and bourbon combined on 2 seperate days.

if i'm busy or working consistantly then i usually only drink on the weekends cause i hate the effects on my body. but no matter what the craving usually comes back so strong that i'll end up pacing for hours before eventually breaking down. i think its because i'm bored but even when i'm not it can get me.

alcoholism runs in my mothers family as ALL of them have been lushes at one point or another.

furthermore, AA wouldn't work for me becuase i haven't been a believer since 20 yo ( i was a southern baptist for all my life) but i DO understand the humbling aspects that may be required.

Answer
Richard,
    Thank you for your message and for telling me some of the situation.  I sense that you desperately do not want to continue drinking.  I hope you are ready to admit defeat at quitting on your own and take some suggestions as to how you might do this.

    You mention that AA will not work for you.  I hope you will reconsider after I share a little with you about what AA is all about.  It is a spiritual program but no one will tell you what you have to believe about any spiritual dimension of anything.  We say: God, AS I UNDERSTAND HIM which means I can be a Holy Roller (ecstatic over God) or an atheist and believe no God exists.

    What I must believe is that the people in the rooms of AA can share their experience, strength, and hope with me so I can begin to understand how they managed to quit and how they handle the reasons that crop up which could lead me back to drinking.  These people have done it.  You say one reason you think you give in is because of boredom; well, many of these people have been bored out of their gourd and have succumbed to drink but they kept coming back until they found that the power to stay stopped DOES come eventually.

    I suggest that you give AA a try for 90 days - that's three months and I suggest that you hit 90 meetings in those 90 days (preferably one a day).  You do not have to talk or share but you will be able to listen to many different topics and hear stories from people who are just like you - trying to stop.  You will also hear from people will all sorts of sobriety length in days, weeks, months, years, and yes, decades.  They all keep coming back to help YOU.  You will find people in there who are younger than you - YES, I said younger than you.

   I also suggest that you not drink in between meetings.

   I also suggest that you get a copy of the Big Book called Alcoholics Anonymous and read the first 164 pages.

    I also suggest that you get a temporary sponsor - someone with whom you can build a relationship and call when you are in danger of picking up a drink.

    I hope you will consider this and get on the Internet right now, this very minute, and locate a meeting in your area tomorrow morning and GET TO IT. Start this today, without delay.

    I will hold you in my prayers and wish you well.

Grace and Peace,
Clyde