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Old 12-04-2018, 10:02 AM
  # 18 (permalink)  
MindfulMan
No Dogma Please
 
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Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: SoCal
Posts: 2,562
I have a very close group of friends who were extremely supportive when I was in rehab and beyond. Much of our socializing was around wine...clubs, vineyard trips, and parties where everyone would bring a bottle and we would sip them all evening.

I can now hang out with them at restaurants where I'm the only one not drinking or at a party where they are drinking wine. I might get a "habit" craving (a situation where I habitually drank and having a drink seems automatic), but I just acknowledge the craving and it goes away.

BUT

I didn't even attempt this until 6 months sober. If I had tried it any sooner I didn't trust myself, and at that point I had a decent amount of sober time and a lot of sober tools in my kit.

EVEN SO

I ALWAYS set a time frame and have an escape plan, as well as sober friends who will talk me through a bad situation. I am a modified AVRT person and theoretically making my vow and recognizing the AV would be enough. And it is.

I consider the escape and phone a friend plans as insurance.
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