An alcoholic or addict is someone who, despite bad experiences, keeps returning to alcohol or drugs and then drinks or uses to excess, with bad consequences.
If you're an alcoholic or addict, or even might be, there's no such thing as a safe drink or drug.
Permanent sobriety is attained by taking the Twelve Steps. Until then, you'll have to take things a day at a time. Resolve that you're not going to drink or use today, no matter what happens and no matter what you think or feel. You can do something for 24 hours that would appal you if you had to do it for a lifetime. Once you take the Steps, staying sober will be automatic and easy. Until then, you'll have to grit it out.
Put every ounce of energy into the following suggestions:
Have a home group. This should be a Big Book or step group and the strongest you can find. Attend come what may. Get there early. Get to know people. If someone shares something useful, take notes. Keep a notebook with all of the useful things you hear or learn from other members. Reread daily and implement what they suggest.
Attend at least one other meeting a day. Consider an early morning meeting plus an evening meeting.
At meetings, always share constructively and on the programme whenever there is an opportunity to share at all. If under 90 days sober or clean, announce how many days you've been sober or clean. However new you are, you can always share how you know you're an alcoholic or addict, what actions you're taking, and what results you're getting.
Talk to several other people in the programme daily, including people with the same amount of time, newer people, and people further ahead.
Tell them what's troubling you or if you don't know how to handle something. Follow their suggestions wholeheartedly and see if they work.
Build a network of people to rely on and to help. Do not build a dependence on any one individual.
Schedule one hour of work every day on the Twelve Steps (two hours at weekends). The very early morning is best. To achieve this, you may have to go to bed earlier. If you're not working, you can spend several hours a day progressing through the Twelve Steps.
Read pages 84 to 88 of the Big Book first thing in the morning, and incorporate the suggestions they contain. Do exactly what the Book says. For instance, if it says to pray something, pray exactly what it suggests praying. If you have a question, ask.
It doesn't matter if you believe in God or a Higher Power. Be scientific. Try praying anyway. Then you'll find out what effect it has.
If you go nuts, call someone and pray to a Higher Power for the right thought or action and the strength to withstand the temptation to drink or use. Then take one of the other suggestions above. If you run out of suggestions, read the Big Book from start to finish and/or listen to speaker recordings online (Google 'AA speakers', for instance) and just sit it out until the craziness passes. It will.
You need never drink or use again if you follow these suggestions.