tedseeker

It sounds to me like you've answered your own question. It is human nature to become overconfident when things are going well. You're being human.

Tazman had some great advice--learn how to be happy without alcohol. The more full and happy your life is without alcohol, the less you will feel a need for it. At the same time, others had some good advice too--do whatever it takes (AA meetings, or other techniques) to remind yourself of what BAD things alcohol does to you.

Whether it is alcohol, gambling, sex, food, etc.. whatever the obsession is that makes life become unbalanced--these things require the ability to look beyond the moment and to impose self-discipline. It is often very helpful to immediately force yourself to DO SOMETHING ELSE. IF you still feel weak, call your sponsor or someone else who is a positive influence for you.

I'm not an alcoholic, so maybe I'm missing the mark, but this is what I've picked up from those that are.

ted

Tazman53

Ted what I have found is even more crucial then being happy without alcohol, is learning how to be sad without alcohol. It has been a process for me, but I am getting there, I have a long way to go, but looking back I have come a long way as well thanks to AA and the 12 steps.

tedseeker

mps101 only mentioned having a problem with wanting to drink when things are going well, so that appears to be his/her main temptation. But, I'm glad you mentioned learning how to be sad without alcohol, since not only is the 'fun' of alcohol a temptation, but so is the 'escape' element. Many alcoholics, as I understand it, have underlying depression or frustration/anger which they drink to numb.

I'm glad that you have found AA to help you with whatever your needs are to stay sober, and be ok with that. It's great that you and others here give back what you have learned and experienced.

ted

Tazman53

Ted there is a saying in AA that in order to keep it you have to give it away.

Peter

At first I went to lots of meetings.

Even when I never felt like going ,meetings helped to keep me reminded that I can never take that firt drink.

I am aware now of my alcoholism. AA has given me knowledge. If I ever go back to drinking it will be a concious decision. I cannot accidentally slip. If I can "think" about taking a drink, then I can also "think" about what will happen to me after that first drink. Some AA' ers call it "playing the tape". If I "play the tape" through to the end I can see myself passed out on the bathroom floor in a pool of my own vomit.

I have trained myself to always remember what alcohol did to me and I never want to go back to that....never....

barb dwyer

Coming to all bloody on the bathroom floor; and the final realization that I couldn't 'pull the plug' when I wanted to ... my Higher Power made it so I had a memory, a few remaining scars, and a mental image that in ten months ... is still quite vivid.

And that I knew once and for all Who is in charge of the livin' and dyin' in this life.
And it ain't me.

When, in the beginning of the meetings, we 'pause for a moment to remember the reasons why we are here' ... that's what I remember.

Sheemie

my sponsor keeps reminding me when I forget.....
The newcomers at meetings remind me....
People I've wronged sometimes remind me....
My wife reminds me....
People here at SR forums remind me too.
and There are STILL moments when I forget!

Music

I get up every morning and go to the gym to work out. I also work at the same gym during the day and often times I talk to people who are concerned about losing weight. They talk about going on a diet and giving up this or that. The first thing I tell them is that I don't think about "giving anything up." I think about what I can change to achieve my goal. When I think about giving up something, I get upset, 'cause I don't like to be told I can't eat this or that. Kind of like when I got sober. I was told I needed to make some changes. I asked, "what changes." My sponsor said I have to change everything about me. The Big Book talks about a physic change, which means I need to change my thinking. I don't have to give up thinking!! Just change it. I have to change my friends, and places I go to have fun. I don't have to give up my friends or give up going places to have fun. I just have to change. Funny, but when I started to change, the other things kind of took care of themselves. When I quit drinking, my drinking friends went their own way, at least most of them. When I started going to AA meetings, I stopped going to bars. When I started going to sober functions and found out I could have fun, my fun places changed. The more I hung around sober people, the more I started to think the way they thought.

Quiting drinking isn't the end of the process. It's the beginning! I have to be willing to make changes that support my goal of not drinking. If I don't make those changes, if all I do is stop drinking, my thinking doesn't change, my friends don't change, and my places to hang out don't change. It's an uphill battle that I have little chance of winning. I'm basically lazy. I like to do things the easiest and most expedient way possible so for me to stop dirnking, I made the necessary changes. Of course in the beginning, I didn't know what changes to make, or how to make the changes, so I needed help. I got all the help I needed from people who knew how to change. I haven't had a drink in over 30 years. Notice I didn't say I've been sober for 30 years. Sobriety isn't just not drinking. I've had my share of thinking problems, but the first thing I've always been able to do is remember what I was taught about changing, and the most important thing I remember is to be willing to do what's necessary to not drink. My belief in God, and my friends in AA have never let me down, and although the battle sometimes rears it's ugly head, the fight isn't near as much a struggle as it was in the beginning. Time takes time.

Nuudawn

I tried quitting a zillion times. I truly believe that willpower alone could change it all. In one blessed moment everything changed. I suddenly realized that everything about my way of thinking and my way of life was simply "wrong". I knew that I needed help because I could no longer trust my own mind. Once I truly realized that little nugget...that my own mind was in jeopardy... my fear based ego shattered. I suddenly felt stripped down to the core..naked and vulnerable somehow.

A committment to facing life without instanteous escape (e.g. drugs or alcohol) takes work..and support ..and in my mind, some semblance of spirituality. By spirituality, I mean surrendering the belief that you are in control. You are not. You can control whether or not you lift the booze or drugs to your lips or into your arm... but the rest is a crap shoot.

fraankie

"..........I think I probably need to get an AA meeting in everyday to remind me or something........."

that's it
"seven days without a meeting makes one weak"



best
fraankie