Congrats on the big 60 Angie! Cravings, eh? I hit 2 months last weekend and was assailed by a pretty bad bunch of cravings, but that also goes to show how far we've come. Rewind 6 weeks and there was practically nothing but cravings here. Now we talk about our partners, ex partners, kids, camping trips, problems and solutions...
As far as the cravings go, I think it's all in the wiring. You might have heard of a behaviourist psychologist called Skinner? He managed all sorts of weird stuff like getting pigeons to play the piano, etc.
He would basically reward certain behaviour and a treat would be forthcoming. Once the brain was "programmed", removing the treat did not remove the behaviour patterns. Pretty simple meat and bones psychology but I think that one problem with drinking for years and years is that you programme your brain which then expects specific results. Remove the treat and the brain says "wtf!!??!" and produces a craving or strong desire to be given that treat. We are rewiring our heads in a lot of ways these days and cravings are becoming rarer (though often very strong when they do occur). We will continue to encounter situations that trigger cravings. Personally I have had to put my music career on hold as the associations with music and drink are too strong. Others have given up jobs in which they need to serve alcohol or stop seeing certain friends or frequenting certain environments.
We need to begin by evading potentially complicated situation till we can get this rewiring job done!
On that note, going to an all day barbecue today. Overheard a couple of the guys who are going talking about how loaded they intend to get. Glad that's not me but not looking forward to testing the new wiring too much. It's a bit of a social obligation so I can't just make a sharp exit but will disappear with some excuse if it gets heavy and return later.
Have a great day all! Thanks for putting up with my attempts at amateur psychology (I know I over think just about everything!! )!!!