Simple Questions for Complex Persons
Do you always answer your doctor’s questions honestly? I didn’t. And I am not sure how honest I would have been, had any doc asked me these questions when I drank.
Here are some questions physicians ask when trying to diagnose alcohol-use disorder:
- Have you had times when you ended up drinking more, or longer than you intended?
- Do you spend a lot of time drinking, or being sick or getting over the aftereffects?
- Have you experienced a strong need—or urge—to drink?
If the answer to any of these questions . . . [is yes] you may already have a problem, according to the institute. ( 30% of Americans have had an alcohol disorder)
These are good questions – had a doctor asked me any of these way-back when, I would have lied, just like I did when the shrink asked me how much alcohol I drank.
Oh. Maybe a drink every now then . . . said I when I drank most nights.
That’s why the simplicity of the program’s inquiry got to me: Is your life unmanageable to any degree due to the use of alcohol?
I heard it first in Al-Anon, and I knew the answer: Yes, Yes, YES! The alcoholic’s drinking was driving me to distraction! (If You Love a Drunk)
A Simple Question That Set Down Roots
But that question, asked in one context, had more seeds than a dandelion. Soon, it floated over and took root in the context of my drinking. What was my drinking doing to me?
So simple a question, but I chose to complicate it and hang up on the definition of unmanageable.
I chose to keep drinking for several years past the point I knew I was in trouble. I juggled what I could and ignored the balls I dropped, denying the cost of my own drinking the way I had ignored the reach of alcoholism in my family of origin.
The genius of A.A’s program is its simplicity; tailor-made for the complicated people we drunks think we are.
It’s genius is a gift of One who is greater than I – smarter, kinder, and more powerful; Who answers questions like, am I an alcoholic, and even unvoiced petitions, Help! (Jeremiah 29:11)
- His love is eternal, immutable, and personal. (Jeremiah 32:27)
- It is poured out on a daily basis – moment by moment if needed, so that my recovery from alcoholism happens, one-day at a time. (John 7:37-38)
Yours, too, dear one!
Simple, huh?
He will help you put that drink down, dear friend – and overcome the painful potholes that seem deeper and deeper.
Call Him – it’s been paid for, and you do have time.
Love in Christ,
Sober and Grateful
