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Old 12-07-2017, 05:46 AM
  # 18 (permalink)  
OpenTuning
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Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 507
I don't know what methods you've tried before, so I'm aware this might not apply to you at all, but we've all heard the expression "nothing changes if nothing changes". If the difference you try to make each time you start Day 1 again is just "this time I'll try harder", the odds are sadly pretty good that the same thing will happen again. Especially if those feelings of shame and guilt you describe are familiar ones from long before you started trying to quit drinking.

One of the things I've learned about myself over the last couple of years is how many decisions I've made without realising I'd made them. Including ones that made my life worse. Like going on a binge despite knowing how much damage it did to my life. I now believe I actually did it because of the damage it did to my life. It was horribly painful, but that pain was familiar, it's what I expected, possibly what I felt deep down I deserved. That was probably one reason I took 35 years before trying to stop. And I suspect something like this can be a reason others might rule out trying the approaches that really could put an end to our drinking. Like therapy, or rehab, or AA or SMART meetings, or any number of other approaches. We can convince ourselves we're trying to change, without actually taking the steps necessary to change.

I've gone on a pretty intensive therapeutic journey, which I started after quitting, which has helped me understand my past actions much, much better. And I have found a much, much better way to live now. Been 2 1/2 years sober now, and wouldn't trade my new life for anything in the world.
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