Originally Posted by
atkinsd91 
Thanks so much guys for your responses. Support on here is amazing (if only everyone on the internet could be this nice!)
The thought of completely stopping, at least just right now after having moved for the first time and getting used to everything, is really quite scary. However, I do think I'm going to at least try to stop with the spirits and stick with just the ciders... and then maybe look to cut back even more.
Alcohol is alcohol is alcohol.
Do you think 'normal' or 'social' drinkers get scared at the idea of not drinking every night? That might be worth a think-about.
In a way, now, while you've just moved and you haven't got into much of a routine as such, might well be quite a good time to stop. AA might also be a good way of getting to meet some of the people who live in your area as well. (And if you think you don't drink enough to go to AA, just be reminded that the folk who go there currently drink a lot less than you do).
IF you could moderate, chances are that you would have figured it out by now. The thing is, with an alcoholic, that off switch gets stuck after the first couple of drinks. The beast gets in our heads and tells us how we might as well just drink. That we NEED a drink. That we will function better with a drink. That we cope better with a drink. Drinking become the reaction to every good day. Bad day. Sunny day. Rainy day. Win day. Lose day. ... and once we start feeding the beast it takes over. (By the beast I mean the compulsion to drink).
BB
PS So types the woman who actually went to her first AA meeting hoping they'd tell me two things...
1 - That I wasn't an alcoholic
2 - The secret of moderating / drinking 'properly' (like I ever wanted to moderate - I just wanted to get drunk but avoid the consequences).
PPS They didn't tell me EITHER of the above.