I suggest also reading about the negative side of moderation management. There are plenty of links out there.
Moderation has never worked for me. I've tried over and over and over again. I'm guessing most of you have too. Some of my favorites:
"I'm only going to have ten drinks a week. I can spread them out or save them up and have them all on Friday night. My choice but once I've had ten I'm done for the week. " Then Friday night comes and I decide that a double should only count as one drink or that "one more" won't hurt. And then two more. And then I've already had twelve this week so I might as well keep going and just try moderation again starting next Monday or next month.
"I'm only going to spend fifty dollars a week drinking. Once that fifty is gone, no more alcohol until next week. " But then, damn, Saturday comes and I've already spent forty of my fifty allotted dollars and my good buddy really wants to meet me at our regular bar. If he buys me a shot it'd be rude to not return the favor. Oh well, I'll spend a little too much tonight but next week I'm going to definitely stick to my budget. Oh and of course tipping the bartender shouldn't count against my allotted drinking budget.
Those were just two of the dozens of moderation plans I tried and miserably failed at over the years. Some of them started out ok but they all ended the same way -- with me the same old pathetic alcoholic I've always been. Broke and hungover and my lonely life usually in shambles.
Counting my drinks and white knuckling because some Moderation Management plan says I can only have a certain number of drinks per hour/day/week/month sounds like it'd be more torture than not drinking at all. I'd always be counting everyone else's drinks when I'd reached my "limit" and I'd eventually talk myself into having "just one more." And then the next time it might be "just two more." How long until I'm back to drinking just like I did for years. It's a recipe for disaster. Even assuming my addiction lets me stop at the "prescribed" number of drinks, there's just no way it'd work long-term.
It makes me sad (and honestly a little pissed off, but that's more about me and my state of mind and my frustration at my lack of control over others than it is anything else, I'm sure) to see so many people falling away before giving this go at sobriety a real chance.
But not sad enough to drink. I am looking forward to seeing what life might be like for me three or six months or a year from now with some real active recovery time under my belt. I've given drinking sixteen years to make my life better. It's time to give sobriety a real chance. I hope you all change your mind and join me.