Quote From: simplelifeI would just like to say that I am a recovering alcoholic. I've not had a drink in 7 years but have been in recovery for 12 years. For the first 5 years I could only attain short periods of sobriety. When I had a slip people would baby me, even my sponser from AA. I did not take responsibility for my own actions. Thankfully my children were grown adults when my alcoholism went out of control and I was living on my own so they never had to "police me". Just over 7 years ago I was sitting in my living room, drunk, feeling sorry for myself and watching the 'Dr Phil show. I'm not sure what episode I was watching but I believe it was on anorexia and he was interviewing a women who was feeling sorry for herself. He said something to her that turned out to be a pivotal(sp?) point in my life. He said to her, "Lady, get on with living or get on with dying. But either way, get on with it. Something happened to me that day. I took responsibility for my own actions. I accepted who and what I was........an alcoholic, and I could not drink.
I'm not saying that it was easy but I received the kick in the butt that I needed. Once I accepted that I could not safely drink I have not looked back. I requested from my friends that they stop babying me and stop cleaning up my messes.
As hard as it may be that is what needs to be done with the 2 parents on todays show. These 2 will not accept responsibility as long as someone else is doing it for them. Cold, maybe, necessary, definitely. Dr. Phil has set up the best of help for these parents. Now it is up to them to do the rest.
I am eternally grateful for that statement Dr. Phil made on that show 7 years ago. Get on with living or get on with dying. Either way, get on with it...............I chose living!
DM in Canada
I'm not opposed to the great and wonderful that Al-Anon does every day. I am curious, though, and hope you can answer this--isn't "anon" adapted from the name of it's senior partner organization, Alcoholics Anonymous?AA has strict rules about the use of their name anywhere, and their general rule on this topic explains that they cannot allow anyone to give even the appearance of an endorsement. Don't those same guidelines apply to Al-Anon?
(AL = short for "alcohol" ANON = short for "anonymous"
I guess that means if Dr. Phil plugs their organization on television, somebody's gonna catch hell, right? I also don't believe that Dr. Phil would take credit for someone else's work. If he did that, however would he find expert representatives to be on his show. And when his experts do appear on the show, I've never heard him fail to say to them, "Thank you for being here today. WEreally appreciate it." If he was a narcissist or some other high profile kind of idiot, he wouldn't be using the pronoun "WE" because it would imply he was promoting himself. He doesn't say, "I thank you" very often, or maybe he doesn't . Anyway, it's just a thought.
Rita
rdavis11@suddenlink.net
Arkansas
