>>>>>I hate to say this Mike, but if you keep this up, pretty soon people here are going to stop feeling sorry for you and just tune you out instead.
>>>>>
>>>>>CALL YOUR DAMN SPONSOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>>>>>
>>>>>Oh, so sorry, silly me ... I should have yelled at you *hours* ago! I'm surprised Tracy didn't yet. Maybe the tuning out has already begun.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Replying to all ---
>>>>
>>>>(And yes, I know it's 3:15 in the morning. I slept so much from yesterday afternoon on I am now wide awake. Will try to get back to sleep for a couple more hours after posting, until it's time for Emily to get up).
>>>>
>>>>Allie prevailed on me to stop drinking early yesterday afternoon. I poured out what was left. I did call my sponsor and had a long talk with him. Yeah, I know, I'm supposed to make that call before drinking or buying alcohol. (To Marcia and Alan, I don't keep it in the house. When the urge gets too strong I go out and buy it. There have been times I have resisted the urge to do so, but obviously not every time).
>>>
>>>Ok then Mike, back to "Step 1.", which, just in case you forgot was:
>>>
>>>Step 1. Don't buy liquor.
>>>
>>>After which, there is no step 2.
>>>
>>
>>It would really be terrific if it was that simple. Guiding principles from a Cracker Jack box. What you're missing or refusing to see is that there is a biochemical element as well as an ingrained psychological element. It isn't something that can be swatted away so lightly.
>>
>>And idiot can go out and buy liquor in minutes' time. Saying don't do it is no recipe for a cure. The urge has to be extinguished, both physically and mentally.
>
>Ok, so if you feel you can't follow step 1., then what are your other options? If you can't do step 1, then you can't stop at all. Like any addiction, you have to make up your mind and do it. Saying that it's not that simple may feel like a good excuse for not sticking to it, but it accomplishes nothing other than to allow you to feel, when you fall off the wagon, that "well, gee, it's not my fault."
>
>You have no other good choices than to make the commitment and hang on come hell or high water. I've known an alkie or two, and believe me, nothing else works. Calling your sponsor after you sober up is the wrong time, and if you can't make yourself call before taking that drink, then how do you ever expect to kick it?
>
>Sorry to dump on you, Mike, but honestly, you have to do it, not excuse it.
>

I don't think I try to excuse myself very often. I just think your one stop recipe of "Don't buy liquor" is incredibly simplistic. Yeah, technically that would do it, but if it were that easy there wouldn't be so many people struggling with their addictions.

One of the great illusions about alcoholism is that all it takes is willpower to stop. Willpower is not enough. You can realize what it's doing to you and still not be able to stop.