Old 09-27-2011, 07:52 PM
  # 337 (permalink)  
FT
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 3,677
Interesting concept. Maybe that's actually what I was doing when I quit drinking long ago. Here's what I did.

When I decided to quit, I bought a bottle of cold duck (my favorite alcoholic drink) and put it in the fridge where I could see it every time I opened the door. I always knew it was there, and I could look at it any time I wanted. I knew I could drink it any time I wanted, too.

Every day at the time I would usually drink, I would go look at the bottle of cold duck in the fridge. I would then make a conscious decision to go do something else before drinking it. Usually, I would eat something, and then go out for a walk. I postponed my decision to drink every day, all the while telling myself I could have it if I REALLY wanted it. Later on, I might look at it again, but usually I just went on with my evening without feeling compelled to keep looking at the bottle.

I repeated that drill on a daily basis for months. It became easier and easier not to drink the cold duck over those months. That was many years ago, and I've told this story on the forum before, never realizing that what you are saying about desensitization was what I was really doing. Makes sense.

I never drank the bottle of cold duck. Eventually it disappeared, and I don't know if my husband threw it away or what happened to it. I just know I never did drink it. In fact, I haven't had ANY alcohol since the day I decided to quit.

Funny thing is that I can STILL recall that wonderful warm rush I would get at the end of the day when I took my first drink. I try not to romanticize it, and I really don't know where to put the memory of that feeling. Thankfully, that thought has long since ceased to give me what I used to call "pulls" to drink. Lordy, lordy, am I glad for that.

FT
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