“We admitted we were powerless…”
If drinking “adult beverages” consistently makes you act like anything but… an adult… you may want to reconsider your relationship with said beverages. Signs begin to present themselves when a person’s relationship with alcohol and other drugs forms into addiction.
Few if any wake up one morning and say, “I think I’ll become an alcoholic today.” Addiction is way slicker than that. Many of us didn’t acknowledge our addiction until the mid to late stages — when it began to ravage our lives and relationships.
And honestly, we didn’t really want to be stuck. But we tried everything to convince ourselves and others that weren’t stuck. We tried rationalization, minimization, and intellectualization. Heck, we had every “ization” in the nation. Except realization. And that has to do with realizing our powerlessness over alcohol and/or other drugs.
Freedom has zero chance in us until we internalize the truth of powerlessness.
The internalization of powerlessness is when information turns into transformation. It’s not enough to know something. We have to act. We may affirm the “idea” of powerlessness but until we get it from head to heart, we’re just toying with the concept. Like it’s a Rubik’s cube.
Just because some people can drink without the proclivity for addiction doesn’t mean that everyone can. Some people can make it into the NFL, but I can’t. Some people can drink a single beer and it’s enough. Others simply can’t stop.
The realization of powerlessness is the internalization that my proclivities are different than other people’s. If you’re an addict or an alcoholic, you are powerless over those pet substances. And until the reality of powerlessness sets in, freedom will continue to be a puzzle for you.
Source: Impact Recovery