| How can we live a sober life? | | | | Because they are passionate people, they need a |
| For the true alcoholic, this is a mind bending question; | | | | passionate solution for recovery. If you simply strip |
| an almost unreachable proposition. People who are | | | | away the booze and the drugs then an alcoholic is |
| trapped in a cycle of addiction find it extremely | | | | left with a hollow shell of a life; they cannot elicit any |
| difficult to visualize the sober life. They might start to | | | | passion or excitement about themselves without |
| envision such a life, but the illusion immediately breaks | | | | returning to the bottle. |
| down for them, because they know that they would | | | | Because of this level of passion, it stands to reason |
| not be happy living that way. So they try to | | | | that any alcoholic who is living a sober life must live it |
| rearrange their vision and find some way to make it | | | | with passion. This is the solution. Not behavior |
| work, but they cannot. The fear of facing life sober | | | | modification or counseling on Tuesdays and |
| is too great, so they continue to drink. Even if an | | | | Thursdays or even 12 step programs. Passion. |
| alcoholic is basically miserable, they picture a life of | | | | Passion is what makes the sober life a success. |
| sobriety to be far worse, and they cannot imagine | | | | Understand that 12 step programs can still work |
| themselves ever being truly happy without being | | | | great for some alcoholics, as long as they are |
| drunk. | | | | passionate about the program and about their life. |
| So there are really two issues here: one is how to | | | | Do this test: ask any successful recovering alcoholic if |
| live a sober life, and the other is how to even go | | | | they are as passionate about life in recovery as they |
| about getting there. | | | | were about drinking. They will always tell you that |
| Living a sober life - this actually has very little to do | | | | yes, they are. Otherwise they would not be sober. |
| with the idea of not drinking. Of course, if you are | | | | They would be drunk. |
| living a sober life, you're not going to be drinking. But | | | | As we live and breath we are expending our life |
| for the true alcoholic, how can this ever be | | | | energy and our passion and we need something to |
| sustainable if they are miserable while gritting their | | | | direct that towards. If you take away the booze |
| teeth in order to avoid alcohol at any cost? Of | | | | then you need to find a passion to replace that with. |
| course it is not sustainable, as most any alcoholic will | | | | This is what defines the creative life in recovery. This |
| return to the bottle before they reach a suicidal level | | | | is what makes for a sober life. Not just quitting |
| of desperation. And please understand that for a true | | | | drinking or going through the motions of some |
| alcoholic, suicidal desperation can be a very real thing. | | | | program and sharing about how your day went. |
| Alcoholics are passionate people. They love to drink | | | | Instead you need to find passion and purpose in your |
| and it really does flip that special switch for them and | | | | life in order to truly overcome alcohol. |
| it truly electrifies their life. The problem is that it | | | | Of course it is one thing to define the sober life in |
| eventually quits working as their tolerance increases | | | | recovery, but quite another thing to actually claw |
| and it becomes impossible to "get happy" anymore. | | | | your way out of the grip of addiction and get there. |