Originally Posted by
ImReadyToQuit 
Feeling great. I'm out of the worst of it.. I just need to keep the memory of how bad I felt (physically and mentally) last week on my last bender... If I can do that I'll be sober for life.
If that works for you, I'm all for it.
As for me, I don't believe that I have the power to remember that discomfort well enough to keep me from drinking. It was a delusion I held on to for a long time. I never want to feel like this again, therefore I just hold that memory close. I failed numerous times trying that. Then it was pointed out out to me that many other alcoholics had tried the same thing and met with the same bitter results.
Originally Posted by AA Big Book, 1st Ed.
The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink. Our so called will power becomes practically nonexistent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first drink.