Things My Sponsors Taught Me

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From the Book
Things My Sponsors Taught ME
By Paul H.

On the Consequences of a Slip

Alcoholics who relapse hold their lives in their own shaky hands.

The disease of alcoholism is so powerful that almost anything can happen. I know an alcoholic who allowed himself one drink following a well-earned job promotion. When he came to, he discovered he had spent a week in a chair in his basement, awaking only long enough to get blasted again. What scare him most was that he had never gotten dunk like that before!

A.A. polls its members every three years or so, and has some remarkable and consistent statistics. One of these statistics is called 4-2-1, which means that of every four people who come to A.A., two never drink again; and of the two who do drink again, on eventually gets sober in A.A. I was fortunate and haven’t had a drink since my first meeting—as we say, “by the grace of God and the fellowship of A.A.”

There’s a darker side to this statistic in the fact that of the two who return to drinking, one doesn’t make it. In other words, the alcoholic who relapse faces a 50-50 chance of never coming back.

Please feel free to share your Experience, Strength, and Hope