TylerDurden

I know you've felt it. The Urge! I say I am going to quit, and I will be fine for the next few days, possibly even a week. However, eventually that urge will strike, and it is the most powerful being in the entire universe. How do I fight it? When I say I am going to quit, and I really mean it, how do I follow through and fight the urge when it strikes?

Pigtails

Hi, I try to remind myself that thoughts and feelings are just temporary and will pass, and to stay focused on my overall goal of continued sobriety.

I also remind myself of all the benefits of being sober, and all the drawbacks of drinking. I have certain drunkalog scenes I run through my head to remind me of what could happen if I take a drink. I am done with that part of my life forever, and only want good things to come my way. So I remind myself of the past things I've done drunk and reinforce to myself that the only way to stay sober and on my way in recovery is not to drink.

I hope this helps. (Posting here or talking with other recovering alcoholics, i.e. AA, always helps me when I feel like drinking. Or I journal or try to do something else besides drink-- such as exercise, cleaning my apartment, working, reading, writing, playing with my dog, watching a movie with my boyfriend, calling a friend or family member, etc.) Good luck and stay strong.

Veritas1

You could pray. "God please remove the obsession to drink."

You could call someone from your support network. Do you have one?

Create a team of sober people around you. Call on them if tempted.

You could read your Big Book. Do you have a Big Book?

You could go to an AA meeting.

You could eat something sweet, or something nutritious.

You could take a nap.

Peter G

• take a shower
• work out
• play a video game
• play squash
• ride a bike (pedal or motorcycle)
• listen to speaker tapes from XA
• get a massage
• revisit my most desperate posts here, when the agony of my illness was still fresh in my mind
• Read a book
• practice drums/guitar/keyboards
• drink water (loads of it)
• take a long walk or drive
• meditate

The most important thing when that evil booze salesman starts banging around the inside of your head? Get outside of your head. Drown that sucker's noise out. Have a plan ready for the inevitable, and implement it as quickly as possible once you've recognized you are having a serious craving. Consider a craving akin to noisy neighbors. When my neighbors get loud I get louder. It quiets them down quick .

Do something tangible, something that requires attention. Some fine folks at some university somewhere figured out that a physical craving for alcohol lasts between 5 and 10 minutes. (someone here hipped me to that) So when the craving hits, if I just ride out the next few minutes by distracting myself with another task, the craving eventually dissipates and I've forgotten just how bad and desperate I felt a short while ago.

The list above is my own, of course you'll have other things that more appropriately apply to you. My rule of thumb is always that if I really need a drink, no sweat. I will have a drink. But first I must run through my entire list in any order I see fit. If at the point I've done everything on that list and I still desperately need that drink, I'll take it. So far, whenever I apply that rule the list has not failed me. Also worth noting, I've never had to do more than one thing on that list before the craving sufficiently fades.

Dee74

you may get something out of these links too Tyler - it's a technique called urge surfing:

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...e-surfing.html
Dr George's Blog » Urge Surfing – A Cool Skill
Mindfulness and Addiction: Part 3 | Mindfulness and Psychotherapy

D

SomethingBetter

The urge for me was one thing but the other thing was what my beast mind was telling me, like I’m not going to be happy till I drink, I am going to be alone on a weekend, I am going to miss out on something, etc…

The urge was something that I could fight; I could always put off a drink till I got off work, till I got back from the store, till I got ready to drink…

It’s more than an urge, especially when it was the only thing I knew, I used to think I was a ‘functional’ alcoholic, turned out I couldn’t function without it, at least when those urges came, until I got that obsession under control, part of doing that was by promising myself that I would never drink again, the more I said it, the less I obsessed.

Say it like you mean it every day, even when the urges are not so strong…

freshstart57

TylerD, I separate my 'self' from the urges - they come from somewhere else inside that is 'not me'. They come from a beast that will destroy my life just to catch a buzz.

If I realize that this urge comes from that beast and not from my 'self', it is easy to turn that urge away and stop it before it becomes a temptation. Now, I understand that any thought at all that leads or might lead in the future to picking up, comes from that beast, and I will have no part of it.

My mind is made up, and that's the end of that story.

EricL

Thankfully, the urge to drink was removed some time ago. When it did occur, one sure fire way for me to see it disappear was to get out of myself. Get ahold of someone and take an interest in what they were doing. Was there anything I could help them with? Generally I had at least one person in my life who had an issue they were dealing with so I would make contact with them. Or, I would share my experience with others who suffer from alcoholism. Share with them the things I did to avoid the drink.

Now, it has been quite awhile since the urge has appeared. I continue to share my experience with others, and show them precisely how I recovered, and alcoholism has ceased to be an issue in my life. Almost as if it doesn't even exist. Pretty miraculous in my book.

Elbow

I'm still in my early days of a second quit.
I must say that thinking about the horrible times on the booze usually helps and also I try to think that with the money I save I can go somewhere nice.
(Booze prices in Japan are not the cheapest in the world......)
Something I had not thought about until recently returning from a trip to the USA. (I hadn't been out of Japan or holiday for 6yrs)
The last drink I had was on the plane and I couldn't even finish it.
urges are always coming at me from all angles because I work in the booze industry, looking at drunk people is a great way to know your better off not being like that drunk guy/woman over there...