barb dwyer

There are, I'm told ... restaraunts that don't serve alcohol.

WHat's more important .. going out ... or being sober.

That's pretty much the question.

miss communicat

Do you want to be able to go out as much as you want to live? Because, as an alcoholic, this is the choice I face. I know today that drinking alcohol will progressively take me to the depths of an existence that is not glamorous. It will not take me to fine restaurants with lovely wine lists, given time.

So, what I did: I chose to go to AA meetings at night when the temptation to drink was strongest. I got a sponsor and asked for telephone numbers of women in meetings. I called these people just to say hi, and let myself get known.

My sponsor showed me how to stay sober by changing my thinking and working through the 12 steps. Part of the change in my thinking was to not drink, JUST FOR TODAY.

This way, I never had to feel like I cannot drink for EVER and EVER. Just not today.

A few 24 hours' later, I now have a life that includes going out to restaurants with lovely wine lists. When it is offered, i simply say, "No thank you".

But, that is not a guarantee for tomorrow, which is why i still call my friends, go to AA meetings and work the 12 steps. I want sobriety more than i want to be able to drink today.

I wish the very best for you, too! keep trying. I had lots of false starts before it stuck.

tay-lyn

Wow, only 2 drinks and you stopped........I wish! lol When I fall off the wagon, I fall hard! I couldn't be more desperate to quit than I am right now, and yet in the last two weeks of back-breaking efforts to stay sober, I have fallen off the wagon 3 times!!! And each time I fell....I fell hard. So good for you for stopping, and hey, you had seven days, with one little slip. So keep going. I don't look at it as starting all over. I had to stop counting days. Cause I was always starting back at day one.....I had so many day ones, they brought me down. So now I don't count. I just TRY all the time, and if I slip, I pick myself up and try again. At least I am trying. I WILL get it. I have to. But I won't if I don't keep trying. So good for you for coming back here, being honest, and trying again.

Mr. Patch

I agree... If I start, I don't stop at 2... I think there is a new country and western song that goes something like:

"The more I drink, the more I drink, the more I drink..."
There is also a line in the song that says something like:

"If I have 1, I'll have 13, there ain't no inbetween..."

Just keep your chin up. We are all pulling for you.