... on being sober

I accept that after a 32-year drinking career, I have relapsed into sobriety.

A treatment center is where you go and pay $15,000 to find out that A. A. meetings are free.

This is a 'One Day at a Time' program. If you are clean and sober today, you are tied for first place in A. A.

If drinking is interfering with your work, you're probably a heavy drinker. If work is interfering with your drinking, you're probably an alcoholic.

I often obsessively pursue feeling good...no matter how bad it makes me feel.

When I was new, I didn't think I had any obsessions until I started thinking about it. Then it was all I could think about.

How come if alcohol kills millions of brain cells, it never killed the ones that made me want to drink?

It's not old behavior if I'm still doing it.

If you want to quit drinking, you are going to have to quit drinking.

Newcomer: "How do I know how many meetings I should attend each week?" Old-timer: "Gradually cut back until you drink. Then you'll know."

If you're looking to have an image in A. A., look around at the meetings you go to and take a look at who you're trying to impress.

I would rather go through life sober, believing I am an alcoholic, than go through life drunk, trying to convince myself that I am not.