I agree ExxWino, with the rationale. And acceptance of the pickle/cucumber thing of never being able to drink is necessary. But for many, yes...it's pretty easy to quit. Staying stopped is another issue.
There are core issues that need to be addressed. Alcohol is simply one of the many substances and behaviors I used to anesthetizes my pain...pain that occurred in early childhood. It has been my experience that if these pains aren't addressed...yeah, you can quit, but there will always be the urge to soothe the pain. The pain is not eradicated simply because we decide to put the drink down. Actually, now we are left with nothing but the pain.
I was sober eighteen years and picked up. Luckily I quit again nine months later, but was ready to commit suicide. I knew I had to deal and resolve the "original pain" or my sober life would be a daily struggle without meaning.
It took seven years of intensive therapy to discover I was raised by very messed up people. Hurt people hurt people. So, dysfunctional adults raised a child who had no chance to come out unscathed. It happens all the time. Once I realized through therapy that I was just fine, a regular kid, deserving of all the loving and nourishment any kid deserves...that I was not a bad kid nor responsible for their behavior...the "original pain" began to diminish...and continues to diminish through the practice of meditation and seeing clearly things as they really are. I practice using the higher mind, not the lower one that used to constantly tell me that I was no good.
So though I embrace rationality completely, it is a bit more of tangled mess than just quitting.
Peace
