the BIG BOOK BUNCH

YOUR BOTTLE INVENTORY

Version A 6/9/2000

USE BY COMMERCIAL ORGANIZATIONS OR SALE ARE PROHIBITED
© All rights reserved by the Big Book Bunch, webmaster@sober.org

NOTICE This is not an official site of, nor does it represent, Alcoholics Anonymous.  You may contact A.A. at Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. 

The BIG BOOK BUNCH

We are the Big Book Bunch group of Alcoholics Anonymous. Our origins are the Students of the Big Book group, which has met in Woodland Hills, California since December of 1985. Our goals are to live the spiritual process through which sobriety is obtained and enhanced, and to publish (at no charge) our experience for other recovering alcoholics. We have absolutely no affiliation with any organization or cause other than our membership as individuals in A.A..

Our written materials are not official AA literature. They usually do, nevertheless, contain information from the Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous) and other conference approved literature owned and published by Alcoholics Anonymous. All A.A. material used identifies the source from which it is quoted. References in our documents to Big Book content exclude its stories. Included is all material from inside the front cover through page 164, plus Appendices I (Traditions) and II (Spiritual Experience).

You may reproduce materials of the Big Book Bunch, provided: a) that sources of materials (AA or the BBB) are identified, b) that no charge is made for the materials, and c) that they are not distributed by an organization or process that charges a fee. If you have corrections or improvements, please pass them on to us using the mailbox at the bottom.

This little exercise can be very useful in support of your taking step one. It relates to both parts of the step, because it inventories your powerlessness over (and under) alcohol, and it exposes your inability to manage your own life.

We are an Alcoholics Anonymous group. Therefore our focus is upon alcoholism. Several folks have told us, however, that the process works just as well with problems other than alcohol. [Instead of "bottle" you can use pipe, line, reefer, pill, syringe, etc.]

The Bottle Inventory is composed of three parts. Part One should be completed without looking at parts Two and Three. After Part One is discussed with your sponsor, complete Part Two. After it is discussed with your sponsor, read Part Three and discuss it.

][poiuytrewqGJCBNMJGDAEIgg/.,mnbvcxz

THE BOTTLE INVENTORY PART ONE

  [or WHAT WAS IN THE BOTTLE THAT I REALLY WANTED]

Think back to the last time you had the thought of taking a drink of alcohol. It could have been a fleeting notion, or it could have been a serious yearning. You might even have picked up a drink and ruined your sobriety. As you know, the Big Book tells us on page 35:

“So we shall describe some of the mental states that precede a relapse into drinking, for obviously this is the crux of the problem. What sort of thinking dominates an alcoholic who repeats time after time the desperate experiment of the first drink?”

We want you to find out what is in the bottle that you have thought you want so much. Actually we suggest you find out what you thought the contents of the bottle would do for you. Do something like this:

On [ date ], after [number of days] of sobriety, I drank [ how much] of [what] because I thought it would give me these things that I wanted:

(for example:)

On Wednesday, February 24, 1999, after 10 days of sobriety, I bought and drank a fifth of Jack Daniels because I thought it would:

  1. Help me forget the pain in my leg

  2. Make me feel real good.

  3. Help me get my wife back.

  4. Give me some peace of mind.

  5. Take away the pain of being alone.

  6. Give me some relief from those nosey AA members.

  7. Taste good.

  8. Get me back with my pals at the pool hall, just like the good old times.

  9. Give me an opportunity for some affection.

  10. Inspire me to get a raise at work.

 

So, there you have it! Get out your pencil, and go to work. Part One usually fits on one side of a page

Please do not continue until you have discussed your drink rationale with your sponsor, then please proceed to part 2).

 

][poiuytrewqGJCBNMJGDAEIgg/.,mnbvcxz

THE BOTTLE INVENTORY PART TWO

[or WHAT REALLY HAPPENED AS A RESULT OF TAKING THAT FIRST DRINK]

Part 2a.  How did I score on getting what I wanted?

Review your list from part one. For each item of attraction write down the extent to which you actually got what you wanted.  

(for example:)

  1. The leg still hurt the same, but I did get a bit distracted in other things.

  2. The real good feeling came and went so fast that I hardly noticed it going by.

  3. I never got around to calling my wife.

  4. I got morose. 

  5. My loneliness became an obsessive preoccupation.

Etc.

Part 2b.  What ELSE happened that  WASN'T on my desire list?

Start with the items on part one. What else happened?

(for example:)

  1. I lost my balance, and banged my leg on the coffee table. Now, it has a bruised shin, and it really hurts.

  2. Except, maybe, for the first 15 minutes, I felt really bad during the entire drinking experience. 

  3. My wife called me to see how I was doing. When she decided I was drunk again, she threatened to call her lawyer, so I let her have it, the &%#@@&.

  4. I was tortured with guilt, shame, remorse and self-loathing.

  5. I was ashamed to hit the bar where, after 5 days of being sober, I had told them all they were weak-willed lushes. So, I didn't leave the house. Nobody wanted to talk to me on the phone. The dog even stayed in the other room.

  6. The phone did ring, though. It was the guy I had asked to sponsor me in AA. He asked if I wanted to go to a meeting, but I put on a hoarse voice and complained about a virulent strep throat. He told me to read Chapter 2 in the Big Book and to call him when I was better. Yeh, sure.

  7. The first beer tasted pretty nice, but, as usual, after a while it tastes like piss. The vodka and orange juice was OK going down, but coming up was the same old story. It seems I want through all the clean towels mopping up the bathroom floor.

  8.  &%#@@& those &%#@@& at the pool hall.

  9. I guess I did leave the house. There was lipstick on my lapel, I had an empty wallet, don't know if I used a condom, but can't recall if I did anything that needed one. Hope I had a good time.

  10.  I was too messed up to go to work.

  11. And, it seems I got another DUI. It says here on the ticket that I have to see the judge in 2 weeks. &%#@@&

  12. My daughter came by with her new boy friend, but she sent him back to stay in the car while she got her mail.

][poiuytrewqGJCBNMJGDAEI gg/.,mnbvcxz

THE BOTTLE INVENTORY PART THREE [or WHY I CAME BACK TO AA]

(for example:) 

Program of attraction?  Hell, NO!  It's just that what you guys have is better than what I have, and there is no hope for me.  Things have just got to change.  I might as well try your way again.

So, why did YOU come back?

If you want to learn some more, make a list of the conditions under which it will be OK for you to have a "social" drink of alcohol.  Can you drink again safely when:  a) you have 6 months sober, b) "she" comes back, c) the job is working fine, d) you have completed all those court sentenced AA meetings, e) you have been to the gym and are in great shape, f) your doctor says you are healthy, g) your best friend is killed in an accident, and you need some relief, h).....?

Go ahead, romance the thought of a drink for 5 minutes.  Then go back over your remarks above, and convince yourself that the next time it will be different.  Yeh, uh huh, sure.

Return to Step One

Return to Table of Contents