Old experiences

[Jodi L]

Just a thought I would share something regarding “They seem to have been born that way” as is written in “How it works”

I always thought my alcohol addiction took off 10 years ago… as I ponderied all the drunk episodes i’ve had over the years. (Which I tended to look at as just having a good time) or maybe it started when I used to sip the leftover drinks from mom and dad’s parties when I was about 10.

Today, I had a complete flashback to my childhood and came to realize just what “being born that way” really means. I was eating a rocket candy (halloween candy is here!) and suddently remembered climbing on the kitchen counter to reach the baby aspirin bottle my parents put out of our reach….apparently it was not high enough. Every once in a while I would do this, take one and eat it, because I really loved the way it tasted. I found it to be quite similar tasting to the orange rocket I ate……hence the flashback.

Anyone else have any stories?

[Heidi Quist]

This is an interesting story Jodi…yes I have had flashbacks but maybe not in the exact same situation as you but close. I remember for it’s God’s little way of telling me to stay on the path I’m on because I have never changed in this program it’s always been me just making different decisions…the right decisions! Hope you are doing well my friend. – H

[Tom G]

I had to laugh. I did the same thing with the orange aspirin as a young kid. Loved the flavor and ‘getting away with it’ from the parents…same thing with my active alcoholism years later.

Looking back, I’d say I was different or ‘born that way’ in that I’d drink to excess, get violently ill, swear off drinking forever and turn around and do it all over again the next night. If a normal person eats something and gets sick from it, they stay away from whatever they ate; usually for a very long time. Normal people are born that way.

Some people are born with diabetes, some are born with food allergies. they stay away from the foods that make them sick or mess with their blood sugar. I can’t drink alcohol the way ‘normal’ people do. I have to stay away from alcohol, or else, I will die. I guess I was born that way.

[Jodi L]

Thanks Tom and Heid for your input. It’s really amazing how each of us have our own experience and our own story, but yet they are the same in so many ways.
The further I go along in my recovery, the more I realize just how I was before my “problem”. My problem was always my problem…..I always reacted differently. I loved the way I felt when I was intoxicated…..Then things changed.
Sobriety is wonderful.

[Tom G]

Jodi, you really made me think. For as long as I can remember, I threw myself at things (relationships, friendships, hobbies, etc…) only to overdo it and end up ruining the joy of life. Same with drinking. I went from liking it, to wanting it, to needing it. What was fun I took to the extreme, allowed it to take over my life and made living unbearable.
Looking back over my life I can see alcoholic tendencies in many areas of my life. Born that way and pretty much lived true to that for a very long time.
I really liked your closing statement. “Sobriety is wonderful”. So simple and so true. I’m adding that to my list of recovery sayings that I use to get by one day at a time.
Sobriety is wonderful. Without sobriety, my life is hard. Joy goes away and I don’t participate in life. With sobriety, life is worth it and I have worth to others.
Thank you for the topic and the simple message that sobriety is wonderful. It truly is.
You’ve made my day!
Tom g.

[Anita D]

There is a picture that I want to blow up and hang on the wall because it’s my life. I was less than 2 years old sitting in a sandbox with white dress, shoes, and bonnet on. I was perfectly clean with a beer between my legs! So yes I was born an alcoholic!

[Heidi Quist]

Anita – that’s funny I have so many pictures of me as a little kid with a beer between my legs. I’m not sure if adults back then just thought it was funniest thing on this planet? When I ask my parents about it they say they aren’t really sure why they did it and they don’t find it funny now…huh, interesting. Thanks for the post brought back some funny memories! – HQ

[Anita D]

I’m an army brat so most of first 7 years was in Germany where it’s normal for kids to drink. Glad someone else could relate! My mom hates the picture because she blames herself for my disease. I keep telling her that no one is to blame and I wouldn’t be the lady I am today without the good, bad and everything in between

[Heidi Quist]

LOVE your response to her…so true!!

[Lynn W.]

Hi everyone! Jodi I use to do the same thing! Eat those orange children aspirin, I had totally forgot…and not just as a child but an adult too…oh wow so i would eat my children’s aspirin! What a thought! Thanks for helping me seeing it as part of my addiction!

[Author]

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