vulcan30

And more importantly, what was your strategy to avoiding drinking and handling any cravings they triggered?

Before carrying-on, I would like to talk about some of my high risk situations. The biggest one of all is being cooped-in the house when I don't want to be, not having access to friends, nor anywhere I can go where I can bump-into people I know. I should add that I'm out of work, the worst part of it is the social isolation, I cannot cope with it. When the evenings come round, it gets too much. My house feels like a prison.

I would rather have things I could go to in the evenings to look forward to, so I don't have to put-up with this torture. I would prefer to do things in the evening like dance classes, or any other activity that doesn't revolve around drinking, tv or the internet.

Regarding being able to stop drinking when started. It's certainly easier to drink less or not at all when in an interesting and an engaging conversation, you know, the sort where you lose track of the time. I think I lack intimacy, friendship and social contact, this is the biggest driving force. I say that because when these needs have been met, I've had nice decent conversations, felt a sense of trust and rapport, the urge to drink reduces or disappears.