Staying Away From The First Use

CEBU, Philippines - Expressions most commonly heard in recovery are "If you don't take that first drink/drug, you can't get drunk/high" and "One drink is too many, and a thousand is nevert enough."

Many of us when we first began to drink or drug never wanted to, or took more, than one or two drinks/hits. But as time went on, we increased the number. Then, in later years, we found ourselves drinking and using more and more, some of us getting and staying very drunk/high. Maybe our condition didn't always show in our speech or our movements, but by this time we were never actually clean and sober.

If that bothered us too much, we would cut down, or try to limit ourselves to just one or two, or switch from hard liquor to beer or wine (or from Shabu to just marijuana). At least, we tried to limit the amount, so we would not get too disastrously high. Or we tried to hide how much we drank or used. But all these measures got more and more difficult. Occasionally, we even went on the wagon, and did not drink and/or use at all for a while. Eventually, we would go back to drinking/using - just one drink/hit. And since that apparently did no serious damage, we felt it was safe to have another. Maybe that was all we took on that occasion, and it was a great relief to find we could take just one or two, and then stop. Some of us did that many times.

But the experienced proved to be a trap. It convinced us that we could drink and/or use safely. And then there would come the occasion (some special celebration, a personal loss, or no particular event at all) when two or three made us feel fine, so we thought one or two more could not hurt. And with absolutely no intention of doing so, we found ourselves again drinking/using too much. We were right back where we had been - drinking/using to much without really planning to.

Such repeated experiences have forced us to this logically inescapable conclusion: If we do not take the first drink/drug, we never get drunk/high. Therefore, instead of planning never to get drunk/high, or trying to limit the number of drinks/hits or the amount of alcohol or other drugs, we have learned to concentrate on avoiding only one drink/drug use: the first one. In effect, instead of worrying about limiting the number of drinks/hits at the end of a drinking/drugging episode, we avoid the one drink/hit that starts it. Sounds almost foolishly simplistic, doesn't it? It's hard for many of us now to believe that we never really figured this out for ourselves before we came to recovery (of course, to tell the truth, we never really wanted to give up drinking/using altogether, either, until we learned about chemical dependency). But the main point is: We know now that this is what works.

Instead of trying to figure out how many we could handle - four? - six? - a dozen? - we remember. "Just don't pick up that first drink/use." It is so much simpler. The habit of thinking this way has helped hundreds of thousands of us stay clean and sober for years.

Doctors and Addictions Treatment Professionals who are experts on Chemical Dependency tell us that there is a sound medical foundation for avoiding the first drink/use. It is the first hit which triggers, immediately or some time later, the compulsion to have more and more until we are in trouble again. Many of us have come to believe that our chemical dependency is an addiction to the drug alcohol; like addicts of any sort who want to maintain recovery, we have to keep away from the first dose of the drug we have become addicted to.

Should you have any questions or need more information please feel free to contact us anytime at 032-2315229 or 032-2389143. (FREEMAN)