Initial First Steps. Where do I start?
Dear All
I dont want to write a sympathy story here so I will keep it short. I have be a silent member of this forum for nearly 2 months now and love to read about the sucess stories I see and learn from some of the "relapses" some people have.
I am 33 years old and have been drinking Beer heavily now for about 13 years. Last year at my worst, I was drinking about 10-12 pints a night. I have been slowly cutting down and apart from teh occasional excessive weekend I am currently averaging 5-6 pints a day.
My issue is I realise how this habit is effecting my work, marriage, health and finances but cant quite get the motivation to stamp it out completly. I dont want to wait until something dramatic happens such as an accident when Drinking and driving but it is such a part of my life that I dont see how I would live without. My pleasure in life is a weeekend down teh beach with my wife and dog and a few afternoon beers watching the people go by.
It is the unbreakable weekday habit that I resent so much. Without trying to cop out before I even start, is it possible to become a social drinker again after being an Alcoholic or is it T-Total all the way for the rest of my life.
If it is the later, I am unsure how to start convincing myself that this is a must and hence start doing something about it. For the past few years I have been suffering from bad stress, anxiety and panic attacks which I know and understand are largly alcohol induced, but as soon as I have a beer, all my problems seem to float away and I can actually relax.
A couple of weeks ago after reading many threads on this site I decided to wean myself off the alcohol by limiting myself to 3 pints. I had terrible insomnia and averaged only about 1 hour sleep aday. After 4 days I could not take it any more and had to revert to my old ways.
Guess what I am selfishly lookign for is teh best of both worlds where I can drink at the weekends and be sober during the week.
Is this possible? Does anyone have any experience in refroming themselves to be a scoial drinker?
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Good luck to all you people out there. Wish you well with your own personnal battles.
Take care