Kellys Blog #3

"Lets Stop Arguing if Alcoholism/Addiction is a Choice or a Disease"

 

Hi everyone!

If you know me or have read my other recent blog, you know that I am not a Doctor or Therapist. This blog is not intended to take the place of someone afflicted with substance abuse or co-occurring disorders, or their families, to seek out professional advice from a Doctor or Therapist. I just hope and pray they are current with the pulse of recovery today.

 

I'm just a guy that struggled with active addiction for many years, who put his family through hell, lost everything and who finally has been able to put some consecutive years together clean and sober.

 

I guess I began to form my (humble lol) (strong) opinions around year four or five of being clean and sober while working at a large local treatment center in their operations department. (Operations…. are the drivers, house parents and techs) We spend a lot of time with the clients and many of us are in recovery ourselves.

 

I am also fairly active in my local recovery community here in Orange County where they have over 1,000 different recovery meetings a week.

 

In the first 5 years of working at this center, I took over a 100 men and women to detox. They were either people getting off the plane, or people that had relapsed during the program.

 

I overwhelmingly began to see who was staying clean/sober and who was not. In my humble opinion, the marketing for treatment centers can be confusing to new people and their families. Many are based on the 12-step model and depend on their local recovery communities for any success, though they often market everything but being 12-step based. Therefore, clients get off the plane or drive in and they are often confused. I would often talk to or write the executives, that we should consider marketing that we help clients get acclimated in our recovery communities and their routines, laying the foundation for the After Care of a Life Time.

 

That topic will have to be another blog in itself, today's title is... "Lets Stop Arguing if Alcoholism/Addiction is a Choice or a Disease.”

 

It is my understanding that The American Medical Association & Surgeon General of the United States of America labels (considers) Addiction/Alcoholism a disease. That is where the arguments start, and sadly people continue to die and lives are affected in the cross fire.

 

In my opinion certain things are going to be common, lets not argue over the (Verbiage / Labels?)

 

A person finally considers stopping or detox or treatment after experiencing negative effects at times when they drink or drug, some may call it a kind of allergic reaction, some may say they make poor choices. (Who cares The Fire is Hot)

 

A person may realize that even when they are not drinking or drugging, it sometimes or often consumes their thoughts. Or, even after swearing it off and making the CHOICE not to drink again, they find themselves (in time) drunk or stoned again. Some may consider that a kind of Obsession.

 

So, no matter what YOU WANT TO CALL IT, we can all agree that it would be nice to stay stopped, be abstinent (and happy) without drugs or alcohol.

 

Many of us proved, more than once, that making a choice to stop does not always work.

 

Many of us realize, at our bottoms, perhaps we are not as well as we thought we were.

 

The good news is that most successful solutions (there is at least one) for addiction require Action!

 

Talking about things we are going to do has shown us rarely works.

 

Taking the action first can strengthen the choices that we make. So what is the process for MANY of us. (A very high percentage)

 

Realize, we make very poor choices and the choices effect different areas of our lives.

 

Goal = Complete Abstinence / Happy Life How are we going to get there? A series of action, and then a series of daily maintenance, that helps us make better choices

 

Many of you know what this outline looks like, but if you don’t….

 

Does it sound like it makes any sense to you?

 

What are the actions that change the way we make choices?

 

Tens of millions of people have used the 12 Steps through the years. Consider not getting caught up on Names & LABELS

 

9 of the 12 steps are ACTION STEPS - At the end people are often BLOWN AWAY.

 

I heard from a man I trust and respect very much, that 9 out of 10 Addicts / Alcoholics will end up dying in their Active Addiction - Believing that Their Case is Different.

 

I hope that I am not one of those people and I hope you are not either. We encourage others to write Recovery Related Blogs and I will make sure they are added to our groups, pages and this blog. The groups and pages have right around 6 million people now and the network reaches somewhere around 20 million people each week. Your words or video, just may help save a life. We never know who is reading online.

 

New friends in recovery, their parents and long-timers in recovery are always welcome to contact me direct with questions, comments or suggestions. 949.274.3765

 

Peace and Hugs

 

Kelly Kettle,

 

Wings of Encouragement

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