Originally Posted by FreeOwl
Just "steering clear" on the one hand seems to help, but on the other hand means that what I'm doing is avoiding, versus re-wiring myself.
Originally Posted by
pakman 
This is a great point and I agree. We (I) need to be able to be in situation where alcohol is around and offered and be able to say NO. It's empowering and liberating. The flip side is that until you feel you are ready, you should probably avoid it. I've had. few situations where alcohol was around and offered in my now 12 days of sobriety. I obsessed over the situation and rehearsed in my mind how I would handled them. when I did, it was a powerful feeling.
pakman
I'm going to respectfully disagree again. (Really, I'm not argumentative!)
Yes, there will be times when we'll be exposed to alcohol.
But it takes time to rewire our brains -- our poor brains and psyches have been battered by alcohol. Early in recovery, we need to be kind to our brains and our psyches. Putting ourselves into situations where we'll be surrounded by alcohol runs contrary to serving that need.
Empowerment and liberation are still a ways away this early in recovery. For anyone at the starting gate, I highly recommend living in the much-elevated state of alert I mentioned in my previous post.
I still live in a state of alert. Not red, but surely not green, either. It's one of the things that helped me get to a year of sobriety a couple weeks back, but I'm always mindful, always aware. That's one of the realities of a life in recovery -- you're always going to be one drink away from the self-destruct button.
But you know what? I can live with that and I want to stay in it. It is so much better than living in the non-stop wreckage of alcoholism.