DO THE THING YOU CANNOT DO

Apr 7, 2000 - © Mignon Quintyne

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. The danger lies in refusing to face the fear, in not daring to come to grips with it. You must make yourself succeed every time. You must do the thing you think you cannot do."
--Eleanor Roosevelt, "The Best of Success" by Wynn Davis

The thought of getting sober once and for all is daunting to say the least. Especially after really long days (and nights) of drinking mass quantities of alcohol worth the resulting hangover the next day. After the fifty-something times that you've thrust your head into the smelly depths and paid homage to the porcelain goddess, you swear on everything that you hold dear that you'll never take another drink again. But we all know that that's another one of your empty promises. As any good alcoholic will tell you, the cure to a hangover is to stay drunk!

Getting sober and staying sober is not a solo event. Don't get me wrong, getting sober starts with the intense need to make lifestyle changes and the blunt honesty to realize your limitations. in addition, you'll need the help of your friends, family and whoever else you can recruit for motivation, inspiration and sometimes a shoulder to lean on. Cast your pride and prejudices aside and dive in to the waiting arms of the people that love and care about you and want to see you succeed.

Scary as the thought may be, getting sober and staying that way does not represent the end of the world. Being a woman alcoholic, with the many health risks associated with this illness should motivate even the most die-hard, down in the dump, sloppy drunk to get sober. A bottle of Vodka every day is not worth getting breast cancer. A quart of Gin before bed every night is not worth an increased risk of heart disease. A few too many sips of Cognac for courage before the big meeting or as a celebration for a job well done is not worth the risk of driving drunk, getting in an accident, and killing someone or ever yourself. Nothing is! If you're a woman alcoholic or know someone that is, take the above quote by Eleanor Roosevelt to her. Have her read it and memorize it. Tell her that she can do the thing she thinks she cannot do, she can stop being an alcoholic.

The copyright of the article DO THE THING YOU CANNOT DO in Alcoholism is owned by Mignon Quintyne. Permission to republish DO THE THING YOU CANNOT DO in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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