Taking 100% Ownership For My Alcoholism

I must start off by saying, that it is not my intention to debate whether alcoholism is a disease or a learned behavior affected by societal influences. My primary focus is not on why I became an alcoholic, but on how I gained freedom from alcoholism. I do not support any particular religious viewpoint from my perspective. I do personally believe in "a higher, more intelligent power" , and spirituality did play a significant role in my recovery. I am not about to say that not believing in God, prevents someone from gaining freedom from alcoholism. I am more inclined to say that believing in yourself as an overall part of the whole, is critical to achieving sobriety.

Regardless of what your beliefs are, I am confident that the ultimate power to free yourself from alcoholism lies within you. After all, even if an "intervention" is put in place for someone, only that alcoholic can make the daily decision not to drink after the intervention or rehab is completed. Even if you believe in the power and grace of God, God can't and won't make someone quit drinking.

My desire, is to help empower each individual to find the strength, using all the resources they can muster (spiritual, social and otherwise), to achieve life long sobriety.

I understand that genetics, learned behavior and other factors contribute to alcoholism. I know that a seemingly irresistible urge to drink, often drives alcoholism. That is why it is even more important for you to use all the resources available, (the most important resources being the ones inside you). Having said that, I also know that reaching out for help and having a strong social support system is important part of achieving sobriety. I touch on that in another blog.

Regardless of anything else that was done or happened or was said, the one thing that had to happen for me to gain freedom from alcoholism was to take 100% responsibility for my drinking. No excuses, no blaming others or genetics or society. They all may have been factors, but they did not force the bottle or container to my mouth and pour the alcohol down my throat. I did that.

By taking complete ownership and responsibility for my alcoholism, I also opened the door to empowering myself towards sobriety. The answer to my sobriety was within me and when I stopped looking or excuses and answers outside myself, I found the answer and the strength inside of me. I do have the ability to choose not to drink ever again. That is my right, my responsibility and my power.

You may be thinking. Yes, but saying "I have the choice not to drink" is easier said than done. Yes that is true; it is easier said than done. But that does not mean it can't be done.

I personally believe that people can change and turn their lives in another direction. It is true that there are many factors that we can not control and I believe in being willing to accept those factors. However..........

Let me make this one point completely clear, as an alcoholic, the only (and I mean only!) control I have over alcohol, is to never consume it, ever!

If I don't drink it, then it becomes a completely mute issue. It has become non effect in my life.

Once again not drinking is easier said than done. I will get to some practical steps that I took in order to prepare my mind for sobriety, as well as daily practices that reinforced my desire to be sober.

When we take ownership of our problem, we then have ownership of the solution. http://leanandsober.com/

James "Scott" Murphy