The Power of Choice

The theme of the meeting I attended today was “I only have the power to choose the first drink; after that I have forfeited my ability to choose.”  Three different people in the meeting I attended today alone could attest to this statement.  What they mean is they consciously chose, after a period of sobriety, to believe they could drink moderately.  What they discovered was that once they started drinking, they reverted, in a very short period of time, to their past alcoholic behaviors, and they completely lost control of their ability to drink in a controlled fashion.

I have heard versions of this same story countless times before, but the meaning behind the horror stories of relapse, for whatever reason, was lost on me until today.  I guess sometimes you have to hear something a hundred times before it sinks in.  And what sunk in, today, was really a message of hope.  I have the power to choose the first drink.  Now, at 121 days clean and sober, the choice is really and truly mine, and, as long as I don’t pick up that first one, I am really going to be okay.  And what a miracle it is to have regained this power in such a short period of time… imagine what miracles are yet to come!