- I am powerless after the first drink (i): on any drinking occasion, if I start, I am at risk of drinking too much and taking actions I will regret.
- I am powerless after the first drink (ii): if I start drinking, I might stop after one drink, thirty years, or never.
- I am powerless before the first drink: left to my own devices, my mind will suggest a drink and I will obey.
What does that mean?
- My life is unmanageable: its course is determined by whether or not I drink (over which I am powerless) and then by how much I drink and what I do (over which I am powerless).
- I have a condition that is fatal.
- I have a condition that is progressive.
- I have a condition that is incurable.
So what?
- I must never drink again.
- Only a spiritual awakening (= a shift to a reliance on God not self = ego) will stop me.