Originally Posted by
Flower2327 
I know this will sound ridiculous to those of you further along the road, and god knows I've read enough here to know better...but here goes...
Even at this point, I just can't get over these things: no glass of wine at the incredible foodie restaurant (French Laundry, Per Se) I may get to eat at one day; no champagne at my best friend's wedding; no more drinks out with my colleagues. Etc etc et al.
The thought of all that makes me feel, frankly...sad. And weird. And I don't know how I will get over it.
Hi Flower, I didn't mean to suggest that I quickly or easily got to the point of clarity about drinking. I was in denial for years.
All the thoughts you have expressed, about all the drinks you will never have, I had those thoughts too. So no need to explain.
Reading around here helped break down my wall of denial. Once I got over the denial, I could start dealing with the reality of what I had to do.
The reality I accepted was that even one drink would lead me back to drinking to my death. That was another major paradigm shift.
Breaking that down into simple terms, it meant that I fundamentally accepted that I could never ever drink again. After that it became a matter of employing strategies.
One-day-at-a-time is a most effective strategy. It stops your mind from going to unhelpful places like how sad it would be not to have a drink on some indeterminate day in the future - because that is really just a lie that the addicted part of our nature tells us. The truth is that each of those "special" occasions do not require you to drink and the future you who shows up to those occasions will be a much more confident, contented individual if you no longer drink.
Please stick around and keep reading here. I think you will find a lot that will help you get over any concerns you may have about what it would be like to never drink again.