If you have come to the conclusion that you may have a problem with alcohol, then the next logical step would be to find out if you have this disease called Alcoholism. I want to start out by stressing the fact that if you are an Alcoholic, then you will need to come to that on your own terms. What I mean by that is this. If you or anyone else comes to me and says “you are an alcoholic!” My first reaction is going to be to tell you to go to hell. Even if I agree that I am an alcoholic, I may not see it as an uncontrollable situation. It does not mean as much to me, that you think I can’t control my life, but if I think my life is out of control, then I’m more likely to start taking some action towards getting it back under control.

All I really needed to know to diagnose myself as an Alcoholic was that once I took a drink, I could not control the amounts. I got to the point where I gave up trying. I have come to know this, that Alcoholics are allergic to alcohol. This is the only way to explain to me the effect that booze had on me. If you can go to the bar and have 1 or 2 drinks and then leave, and you can do this whenever you want, then you are not an alcoholic. I can go to the bar with every intention of having 2 or 3 beers and I end up shutting the place down every time.

The fact for me was that I had to become convinced that when it comes to alcohol, I have zero control, and I will never be able to regain control. I am an alcoholic of the hopeless variety and I can never safely use alcohol again. The idea that one day I may be able to drink again must be destroyed.

Once having diagnosed myself as an alcoholic, and becoming aware that I can never safely use alcohol again, and being convinced that I am probably not the guy who should be calling the shots in my life, only then am I ready to move forward to the next step.