Kindness,
Do you have a child now?
What finally did it for me is that I woke up one morning and saw my life ahead, and realized that as my son got older, I was setting him up for a life of misery with a drunken dad. I was not abusive or dangerous, but if he were old enough to be aware, he would be embarassed by me. I wanted to be the best role model I could be for him.
That's when I got really serious about quitting for good. And it was still very hard. The compulsion to drink was so strong that it seemed to literally take over.
I went to AA (over the period of several years). Not for me.
I tried the hypoglycemic diet.
I tried hypnosis.
I read everything I could get my hands on.
Every day I would "swear off." And every night, I would "give in."
Every morning, I felt like a schmuck.
When a person gets into a cycle like that, moderation is a pipe dream. It is time to give it up completely. But how?
What worked for me was a simple book. "Rational Recovery, the New Cure for Substance Addiction." It teaches a powerful mental tool that can literally defeat your addiction in a matter of minutes. You are done. Recovered.
I don't mean to make this sound trite, or simple. My path was long and winding before I read this book. But once I did, it was like a light bulb went off in my head, and I was...
done.
--Scott