I am trying it. I can't tell you how successful I will be. I know I became physically addicted to alcohol...there's absolutely no doubt about it. But, people become physically addicted to sugar and to caffeine too...that doesn't mean they can't break the addiction and cut down to normal levels. I drank every thursday, friday and saturday in college. We drank til we were pretty drunk. Then after college, I didn't really drink for about two years...getting drunk every now and then. Then after that and I started working, it became a pretty much every night kind of thing. I
f I didn't have a six pack of tallboys every night, it was weird. It became a cycle...drink six beers feel like **** in the morning and anxious all day and then drink to get rid of the anxiety...rinse repeat. I really was immature and didn't understand what was going on. But, I was young so I could take the hangovers much better. Fast forward about 10 years and I was still drinking about the same amount (no more than I was), but as Hank says, the hangovers hurt more than they used to. Plus, the anxiety became much, much, much worse to the point that I was a damned near nervous wreck.
I came on here looking for an answer after I discovered that it was the beer that was giving me the anxiety. I quit for like two months, but was so bored and lost my zest for life (which I had before despite the anxiety). I went back to drinking after that. Although, I tried to reign it in a bit. Maybe a full six pack on the weekend nights and less during the week. I was to the point where I couldn't sleep (this was the chemical dependence I was talking about) without having 5-6 brews. Then I saw some of my friends struggling with alcohol and making fools of themselves. I decided that there had to be a midway point between being a drunk loser and total abstinence.
So, I began tapering down. First, 5-6 beers per night for about two weeks. Once I got used to that, I moved to 4-5 with 6 on the weekend as a treat for about two weeks. Then to 3-4 with 5 or 6 on the weekend as a treat for two weeks. Then to 2-3 per night with 4 as a treat. Currently, I am drinking two beers per night, but I overindulged with 4 the other night that my dog got killed. Last night I drank one beer and cracked open another...I got pissed that I wasted that beer because I ended up throwing 90% of it out.
So...is it possible? I don't know. I'm trying because I really like the taste of beer and being able to chill out. Perhaps I am a full blown alcoholic in full blown denial...but I like to think that I was a moron who caused himself serious physical injury and developed a chemical addiction because he refused to grow up.
I don't know. I'll keep checking in though.