Just cut and pasted a step one worksheet I got from Quetzal here on this board. Have used it along with a young lady I am sponsoring and we really both got a lot out of it.
Of course, read the book.
But this worksheet was an eye-opener for me.
Jonibaloni
Step One worksheet:
Have you seriously damaged your relationships with other people because of your addictive behaviours? If so, list the relationships and how you damaged them.
If other people have told you how you how your have hurt them, then write down what they said.
Describe any missed appointments that resulted from your addictive behaviours
Describe any memory lapses where you cannot account for where you were.
Describe any times that you cannot recall how you got home.
Describe times and ways that you have significantly neglected or damaged relationships with your loved ones in order to indulge in your addictive behaviours or because you were recovering from your addictive behaviours
Describe any illnesses that have resulted from your addictive behaviours
If your addictive behaviour contributed to excessive spending, describe the situations and why you did it.
Describe times that you have withdrawn from social interaction and isolated yourself to an extreme degree and why.
Describe incidents where you expressed inappropriate anger towards other people.
Describe embarrassing or humiliating incidents in your life. Were they related to your addictive behaviours? If so, how were they related?
Describe attempts that you have made in the past to control your addictive behaviours. How successful have they been? Do these attempts show the powerlessness that you have over your addictive behaviours?
Do you feel any remorse from the ways that you have acted in your life? If so, explain that in detail.
Describe any irrational or crazy set of events that have happened since you began you addictive behaviour Did you rationalize this behaviour? If so, in what way?
Have you avoided people because they did not share in or approve of your addictive behaviour? If so, list these people and situations.
Describe any dreams that you have had that exhibit the unmanageability or chaos of your life.
Can you pinpoint one time period in your life when your life began to become extremely unmanageable? If so, describe that period of time and what was happening.
Is there one incident or insight that made you realize that your life was unmanageable? If so, describe it in detail.
How would you summarize the powerlessness and unmanageability of your life in the face of your addiction?
Thank you so much for this and for the other responses. I cannot tell you how much better it makes me feel to know that I"m not alone in this. I don't really have anyone to talk to about it, I just can't bring myself to admit to my friends and family that it really is a problem and how bad it got.
Reading the worksheet brought up some issues and reminders of things that I honestly didnt' even tie to drinking, but now I see that they were.
