You Must Want This.
When I was speaking in Russian Siberia, one of the most frequently asked questions I received was : What is the one most important thing on the road to sobriety?
Simple : You Must Want This.
Then comes the next question : How do you, how can you, attempt to cause someone (my wife, my husband, my son, my daughter, my mother, my father, my brother, my sister, my friend and the list goes on) with what appears to be a serious problem with alcohol want to stop drinking?
Simple : You can't make anyone want to stop drinking. It has to come from within each of us.
IF someone is ready to stop drinking for themselves, hopefully you can assist them on the road to recovery by sharing your own experience, strength and hope.
IF they don't want to stop, say the Serenity Prayer (accept what you cannot change) and move on to someone who wants sobriety.
Simple huh?
Yes it really is simple.
Page 96 of the Big Book.
Do not be discourged if your prospect does not repsond at once. Search out another alcoholic and try again. .. We find it a waste of time to keep chasing a man who cannot or will not work with you. .. To spend too much time on any one situation is to deny some other alcoholic an opportunity to live and be happy.
And? In the long run, our working with others keeps us sober. So keep reaching out to others.
It works. It really does.
