Heck, I'm over 25 years sober now... and it's been many years since I reached the place in sobriety that "I don't even think of drinking!" (That happened early in my sobriety).
So, why do I still NEED AA? Here's why: AA is NOT for people that are thinking about drinking... AA is for SOBER ALCOHOLICS --that NO LONGER even think of drinking!
Sounds weird, doesn't it? You'd think that AA is for people that are struggling to NOT take that next sip! Well. It IS here for them too... but, it is here MOSTLY FOR those of us alcoholics that are sober and NO LONGER DRINK and NO LONGER THINK OF DRINKING!
Why is that? It's because AA is NOT about "stopping drinking" it's about "STAYING stopped." It's about maintaining a LIFETIME of sobriety... instead of just getting bits & pieces of sobriety time on the installment plan!
So, why do I keep active in AA after being sober for a longtime and I no longer even want or think about drinking? It's because I've been sober LONG ENOUGH to fall in love w/ my sobriety!
I love my sobriety. It's so good to me that I want to keep it. My sobriety is my most important relationship in life -- without it, I'll lose every other relationship that there is!
If you had a spouse, a lover, a soul-mate, or whatever... and you loved them and loved your relationship w/ them... would you want to stop doing what you were doing -- that got you into that relationship AND keeps you in that relationship?
Sobriety gave me the opportunity to experience and have The Good Life. Today, in sobriety -- I HAVE everything I was "looking for" in the bottle (but never did find!)
Being sober & not even thinking of drinking -- is the most dangerous ledge in my life. It's on that ledge -- that I'm subject to fall.
No. I don't do it out of FEAR. I do it because of my LOVE... for my sober life.
Dallas B.
