Question for sobriety veterans

[Lifetime]

I agree with just about everything that was written with the exception that someone mentioned that drinking alcohol is just not an option. I have been around for a very long time and have seen countless numbers of people go out and drink again, so I would have to say that the option IS there for alcoholics, and that scares the crap out of me!

I do not think about a drink, with rare exception, as just a fleeting thought, quickly swallowed up by a rational thought...which is a miracle! My life up to the point of recovery was all centered around my drinking.

Your hopes and dreams can be realized to you if you just don't drink and begin living your life by the 12-Spiritual Principals behind the 12-Steps of ALcoholics Anonymous. Go to meetings, share, listen and begin to feel what it is like to be a human being again.

All the questions that you asked in terms of full recovery from alcoholism can be realized, and will be realized if you just make that committment, ONE DAY AT A TIME! This will take you some time, but you WILL change, as long as you are committed to change.

Peace be wth you, my friend, and may you now go and find what you seek...We are there to help you through, to see you through...

Lifetime

[tommyk]

Originally Posted by steamvessel

Do you ever get to the point of not wanting to drink anymore?

I can honestly say that I have NO desire to drink, thank God.

And thanks for asking.

[navysteve]

drinking alcohol is just not an option. I have been around for a very long time and have seen countless numbers of people go out and drink again, so I would have to say that the option IS there for alcoholics, and that scares the crap out of me!

I have been around quite awhile myself and have also seen many return to drinking. But I look to the Big Book. The step ten promise tells me that I shall recoil from alcohol as if from a hot flame. I spent quite a few years in AA not treating my alcoholism. I made meetings and just didn't drink ( what a miserable existence). Then I began working the steps as they are outlined in the Big Book ( the only book that tells me how to work the steps, all others simply build upon this book)...

The result, I cannot drink today. Booze is not an issue in my life. Now here is the kicker. If I do not maintain this life I will have no choice but to drink. For you see, I have lost the power in control over the drink. I had to seek a higher power, and it has removed the alcohol problem. My job is to be of maximum service. I do not practice a "selfish program for selfish people"
Self is the problem!

Why do alcoholics drink again???

They stop taking their medicine. I need the steps now more than when I got here. I have something worth losing.

We need not ever fear alcohol

One last thing, you do not have to wait to work the steps. Read Dr Bobs story ( day two he made amends) We can become "recovered" alcoholics or we can still suffer until no option left but drink seems appealing

[Tazman53]

Steam I have 630 days so I am far from an old timer, but I can tell you as quite a few others in this thread have said, I no longer think about drinking. I almost drank again at about 2 months sober, but I had not even done the first step at that point.

Once I started working the steps, before I was even half way through, for me the obsession to drink was lifted, ever since then the idea of a drink rarely pops into my head and when it does it goes away with a chuckle, you see I am no longer alone.

My wife asked me one time when I had a year sober if a doctor told me I only had had 3 months to live would I drink again.......... I did not even hesitate in my reply, I told her "No, I like being sober to much." That was the truth then and it still is today.

[ssn]

My husband is on day 22. He's sober, but he's still miserable...cranky, night sweats, impulsivity...when does this begin to get easier?
ssn

[Mala09]

Hi everyone

I can identify with so much written here. As I went through the Steps and changed my life in sobriety, made amends and paid more attention to what needed to be done in my life, the desire to drink just ebbed away. I don't think about it at all on a daily basis. I don't want to drink and I am indifferent to seeing others drinking socially. Drinking is death-in-life to me and love living sober.

In the rooms of AA I have found so much wisdom and inner freedom in others that I want what they have and will go to any lengths to get that.

Love

Mala

[ttzsuzzie]

I don't recommend getting into energy drinks. I was listening to a guy last night that got addicted to them and he feels like you know what now.. An addict is and addict is an addict. I feel the longer i am sober the better things get and thats due to having a power greater then me. Cause if i am left to my own thoughts Im at the bar or the store getting booze. Its really nice to have a place here......

[LogCabin]

Originally Posted by steamvessel

would you prefer not to drink anymore anyways because you enjoy sobriety better?

I enjoy sobriety FAR better.

Originally Posted by steamvessel

I'm not completely naive to the fact that there are times where I will get the desire, but do you really want to drink anymore?

I do not want to drink anymore. And yes, on occasion I will see an ad on TV or someone holding a drink in a glass, and my rose-colored glasses come out for a moment. But I have had enough. I don't want that crap to ever touch my lips again.

Recovery has been a journey of stages for me for sure. At first I was angry. then mourning, Then testing (denial), and finally accepting. Just like the 5 stages of accepting death...now that I look at it.

And then the relapses would happen because I felt that I had either learned to control it, or I though I had been away from it long enough that I could go back "this time" and behave myself.....<--------HA! ha ha ha!

Nope, the only thing I learned from relapsing was that I just can't do it right, and never will. I quickly spiral right back down to where I left off. And then once the physical addiction hits me...then I'm a slave to the stuff. And I hate being a slave.

With this last relapse I was so happy to finally walk back into a rehab program..the counselors would tease me because I walked in the door with a big smile on my face. I really was so happy to go in. "Let's get this medical detox on the road people! I am so ready to go back to being human again." This is what I was thinking.

I LOVE being clean and sober. It is far better feeling than being sick and tired all the time.

Saying goodbye, and closing the door on alcohol finally got easy. Like saying goodbye to an abusive relationship. Hard to get out of while still in it, but really happy and free once the door was SLAMMED Shut.