Originally Posted by
Purpleknight 
2 observations:
1. You still have no control over alcohol, as you can't stop at 1 drink, that is a recipe for disaster, when I used to drink after a period of abstinence I didn't immediately go and get hammered, it was a slow progression back to binge drinking over a period of weeks, your only 4 weeks in.
2. Your brain has not rewired itself in 4 weeks.
It seems you're trying to justify drinking now and again, moderating, without looking at the bigger picture that nothing has changed in your genetics or control over alcohol, I went round and round this same "moderation experiment" for years!!
I made similar promises to myself, if I only drink at weekends, if I only drink 2 days a week, 3 days a week, only drink beer, only wine, but the reality was, no matter how much I tried to convince myself my drinking had changed it always brought me back sooner or later to my same old ways!!
1. No you are right, I don't have control once I start drinking. So I do have to proceed with utmost precaution. I mean I haven't tried it, I probably could stop after one drink, but I'm not sure that would prove anything except that I can stop after one drink, but that doesn't mean that I want to. It's not so much about what you can do, it's about what you want to do.
2. Actually brains can rewire themselves in 4 weeks. If we assume wiring is due to axonal growth. Brains can rewire themselves overnight, if we assume wiring defined by synaptic plasticity. Regardless it hasn't been 4 weeks. It's been almost 10 months since I was drinking daily, and each month has had less and less nights per month. I went from daily, and after a wake up call I went to 10 nights a month, and now i'm down to three. It's not so much about how many nights per month, that is a superfical figure. It's about the associations with drinking. Do I need to drink? Am I craving a drink? Am I going through withdrawals as a result of drinking? Am I missing school or work? Those questions have different answers now as a result of the last month, and yes a brain can rewire itself in just 4 weeks.
Also I don't see the analogy between your promises and what I'm saying. I'm not promising to only drink two days a week or 3, I'm not promising to only drink on weekends, or only drink a certain type of alcohol. The only promise I made was to never drink two days in a row and I only made that promise to myself because I know I can keep it. This seems to be the case that many people try to moderate and end up back to their old ways, and yes that could happen to me, I'm aware there is risk involved. However, when i started drinking daily the first time I was no way aware of what daily drinking would do to my health, my personality, my life. I'm very aware now, so I don't see that happening to me.