January 26 – One Drink, No Chance
“Once the acetone accumulates in their body — and that begins to happen with only ONE drink — they will crave more.”
We used to think “powerless” just meant we made bad choices. Like if we tried harder, we could drink like everybody else. But some of these AA guys who really understood the science behind alcoholism explained it to us in a way that finally clicked.
They said only a small chunk of people — maybe twelve percent — have the body of an alcoholic. It’s not just attitude or behavior; it’s physical. The liver and pancreas of an alcoholic processes alcohol way slower than normal, sometimes at only one-third the speed. So when a normal drinker has a drink, their body breaks it down and moves on. But when someone with alcoholism drinks, the chemical that alcohol turns into — acetone — doesn’t clear out. It hangs around in our systems and makes us crave more.
By the time we're halfway through the first one, the choice to drink alcoholically isn't a choice anymore, it's a physical need. The phenomenon of craving has already taken control. That’s why “just one” never worked — it was never just one. Once the physical allergy is triggered, we're off and running, no matter how much we swore we wouldn’t.
The wild part? This never changes. It only gets worse. That’s not depressing to us anymore — it’s proof that we're not crazy, we're just wired differently. And now that we know that, we can stop trying to drink like someone we're not.
Am I willing to entertain the possibility that I’m actually bodily different than other people when it comes to drinking — and if so, what would it mean to finally accept that?
