When Did Your Obsession With Alcohol Go Away?
Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: in the present moment
Posts: 2,060
for today, the obsession to drink alcohol is gone. it left me after about 30 days of not drinking, which is the same point at which I took Step 2 in AA.
I think there is a correlation between the 2.
I think there is a correlation between the 2.
It`s ok to stay sober
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Central NC
Posts: 20,902
sobergirl,the obsession to drink left when I was on steps 2 & 3.I say that because thats when I started sincerely praying for help to stay sober,and in my case,those 2 steps flowed together as a process.
I figure i was sober 20-60 days.I just can`t remember the exact dates.
I figure i was sober 20-60 days.I just can`t remember the exact dates.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Virginia, USA
Posts: 449
I discovered what finally seems to have made my obsession with drinking go away: finally working the 3rd Step, which I did on Wednesday night! Thursday was blissfully and peacefully free of the awful obsession - finally! What a RELIEF and JOY and BLESSING!
Some other wonderful things came about after I did my 3rd step. The oddest of all is that when I walk into a room full of alcoholics and/or addicts, I feel love for them all. That is definitely new and weird.
I don't know how long it will last, but I'm eternally grateful and am going to continue working the steps. Now I'm working on Step 4... plus doing all the other stuff I'm supposed to be doing (calling others, service work, calling sponsor, meetings, praying, etc).
Some other wonderful things came about after I did my 3rd step. The oddest of all is that when I walk into a room full of alcoholics and/or addicts, I feel love for them all. That is definitely new and weird.
I don't know how long it will last, but I'm eternally grateful and am going to continue working the steps. Now I'm working on Step 4... plus doing all the other stuff I'm supposed to be doing (calling others, service work, calling sponsor, meetings, praying, etc).
Follow Directions!
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Fredericksburg, Va.
Posts: 9,730
That is awesome sobergirl, keep at it, there may still be days when the urge will hit, I came very close to picking up after 2 months sober, prayer helped a bit, it kept me from picking up until I picked up the phone and called someone in the program. I still find it odd that by simply talking to someone who knows exactly how you are feeling because they have been there that craving just goes away.
Keep working those steps and not only working them, but living/applying them in all things, it sure has worked for me and a lot of other folks. Heck there are folks with over 50 years sober due to living and applying the steps in all things.
They had some type of Old Timers get together in Richmond a week or so ago I would have loved to have gone to, they had a group of folks speaking all with over 50 years sober!!
Keep working those steps and not only working them, but living/applying them in all things, it sure has worked for me and a lot of other folks. Heck there are folks with over 50 years sober due to living and applying the steps in all things.
They had some type of Old Timers get together in Richmond a week or so ago I would have loved to have gone to, they had a group of folks speaking all with over 50 years sober!!
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Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 1,049
Originally Posted by Thinkingabit 
For some the obsession never goes away. Dr. Bob never lost the obsession to drink and we all know that he worked the steps. Bill was asking for whiskey on his death bed. When in crisis the mind reaches for what it knows will soothe. For some it is just about learning how to manage that voice and talk back to it.
"yes a drink would take that away short term..." BUT to do so is not an option for me.
If you are like so many and to have one means trouble, then you cannot. Plain and simple...
I had a very wise lady tell me once that learning how to self soothe is the greatest gift... It is the seeking of peace outside of one's self that is what might be termed "addictive behavior."
I struggled with that voice for a time until I learned to acknowledge it and tell it the truth. No, that is not an option for me. I choose to be happy and free!
Choice is powerful thing!
Thinking....a bit...
:bounce
"yes a drink would take that away short term..." BUT to do so is not an option for me.
If you are like so many and to have one means trouble, then you cannot. Plain and simple...
I had a very wise lady tell me once that learning how to self soothe is the greatest gift... It is the seeking of peace outside of one's self that is what might be termed "addictive behavior."
I struggled with that voice for a time until I learned to acknowledge it and tell it the truth. No, that is not an option for me. I choose to be happy and free!
Choice is powerful thing!
Thinking....a bit...
:bounce
For me, once I realized that my drinking had taken me to an all time low, that as soon as I got through this "tough patch"... that my now horrible life, was BECAUSE OF my drinking. When I finally came clean with MYSELF, I was done. It took years and years to get to that point, but when I did...I was DONE. That was before I got to AA.
I love what you say about self soothing.
What I learned to do was to be the adult to myself, but to my inner child. When I am feeling down or emotionally fragile, I do things for myself, for my inner child, just as someone who is older than you would and who really loves you. How would that person treat you? With love and kindness.
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Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 1,049
Originally Posted by sobergirl77
That awful, burning, incessant, evil voice that tells you to drink... it won't leave me alone. It's driving me mad.
The only thing I can do to make it go away is to call a fellow AA member. Prayers have helped a couple of times, too.
Meetings don't help anymore. Yes, I get a lot out of most meetings and get "fed" spiritually and get to fellowship. But sometimes I leave a meeting and want to drink extremely badly. Or I'll think about it during the meeting.
I'm supposed to work on steps 1-3 tomorrow with my sponsor. I hear the obsession goes away once you hit your 10th step.
I don't think I can wait that long... it's driving me mad! And I'm doing everything right... why is it still so bad?
The only thing I can do to make it go away is to call a fellow AA member. Prayers have helped a couple of times, too.
Meetings don't help anymore. Yes, I get a lot out of most meetings and get "fed" spiritually and get to fellowship. But sometimes I leave a meeting and want to drink extremely badly. Or I'll think about it during the meeting.
I'm supposed to work on steps 1-3 tomorrow with my sponsor. I hear the obsession goes away once you hit your 10th step.
I don't think I can wait that long... it's driving me mad! And I'm doing everything right... why is it still so bad?
It took years to get to the bottomless pit, it's going to take some time to level out.
Best to you.
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Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 1,049
Originally Posted by sobergirl77
Thanks serenityqueen!
Onto another topic... (sort of)... I'm probably going to have to get a 24-hour chip tomorrow. I have been taking librium most nights for the past week to "relax". That's not what they were prescribed for. I'm going to confess to my sponsor tomorrow...
Onto another topic... (sort of)... I'm probably going to have to get a 24-hour chip tomorrow. I have been taking librium most nights for the past week to "relax". That's not what they were prescribed for. I'm going to confess to my sponsor tomorrow...
When you speak to your sponsor, don't think of it as a confession. you are doing you're best right now and the great thing and shows as alot of insight, is that you are not doing the right thing by taking it to "relax"
I started Yoga. I used to think it was somewhat wacko, but what a huge difference it has made in my life and I have never known such relaxation before!
Do you know what is making you anxious? Is it simply no longer using alcohol to medicate and relax? If that's what it is, remind yourself over and over that you are learning to feel the feelings and they will pass.Make friends with fear and anxiety. They fight you because they don't think you like them.Anxiety are like screaming out of control kids having temper tantrums. Once they find out that your not hating them back and killing them off, they'll warm up to you and stay quite. In time fear and anxiety will start being your friend. They serve to tell you that you need to make changes in your life instead of staying stuck.
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Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 1,049
Originally Posted by sobergirl77
I discovered what finally seems to have made my obsession with drinking go away: finally working the 3rd Step, which I did on Wednesday night! Thursday was blissfully and peacefully free of the awful obsession - finally! What a RELIEF and JOY and BLESSING!
Some other wonderful things came about after I did my 3rd step. The oddest of all is that when I walk into a room full of alcoholics and/or addicts, I feel love for them all. That is definitely new and weird.
I don't know how long it will last, but I'm eternally grateful and am going to continue working the steps. Now I'm working on Step 4... plus doing all the other stuff I'm supposed to be doing (calling others, service work, calling sponsor, meetings, praying, etc).
Some other wonderful things came about after I did my 3rd step. The oddest of all is that when I walk into a room full of alcoholics and/or addicts, I feel love for them all. That is definitely new and weird.
I don't know how long it will last, but I'm eternally grateful and am going to continue working the steps. Now I'm working on Step 4... plus doing all the other stuff I'm supposed to be doing (calling others, service work, calling sponsor, meetings, praying, etc).
Sorry to hear about your relapse, but sounds like you pulled yourself up. Good for you.
You're doing all the right things. Keep your eye on the target
Guest
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 1,049
Originally Posted by barb dwyer
hi SG -
I think what you're describing is the obsession not the craving.
It took me for EVER to get the two separated in my head and as long ... to figure out why the aa folks made such a deal out of differentiating the two words and their connections.
The best I could do with it was :
CRAVING (the phenomenon of) is what happens AFTER we take the first drink. That's when the alcohol... takes over in the body and the mind no longer has a choce to drink or not. When we can't stop. When nothing matters any more but GETTING more.
OBSESSION ... is what we do before we pick up that drink. That's the MIND ... trying to run things. That's when we start thinking we can 'handle' drinking, we can 'manage to drink and not over do it.
But it's a lie.
We can't.
There's not a person who goes to AA that goes because their lives were wonderful with alcohol.
Remember that.
Not one person there GOT there, because their lives were going well.
And no one gets HERE because their lives were so wonderful they just had to show up here to see how the other half lives, either.
Now- I feel that SOME of the obsession is driven by a physical addiction ...
and in early recovery - that is a tough pony to learn to ride.
But it IS do-able.
I think what you're describing is the obsession not the craving.
It took me for EVER to get the two separated in my head and as long ... to figure out why the aa folks made such a deal out of differentiating the two words and their connections.
The best I could do with it was :
CRAVING (the phenomenon of) is what happens AFTER we take the first drink. That's when the alcohol... takes over in the body and the mind no longer has a choce to drink or not. When we can't stop. When nothing matters any more but GETTING more.
OBSESSION ... is what we do before we pick up that drink. That's the MIND ... trying to run things. That's when we start thinking we can 'handle' drinking, we can 'manage to drink and not over do it.
But it's a lie.
We can't.
There's not a person who goes to AA that goes because their lives were wonderful with alcohol.
Remember that.
Not one person there GOT there, because their lives were going well.
And no one gets HERE because their lives were so wonderful they just had to show up here to see how the other half lives, either.
Now- I feel that SOME of the obsession is driven by a physical addiction ...
and in early recovery - that is a tough pony to learn to ride.
But it IS do-able.
Member
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 700
My Obsession to drink went away a few months after I sobered up. I had been going to AA meetings, but I was still wondering what was happening at my old party haunts and the people I drank with. I guess you could say I was still unsure about sobriety. On my 19th birthday.. The day that I turned legal age to drink I of course had to go down to the bar and see what it was all about. Having just under 2 months, lets call them a shaky 2 months, I was in this bar playing pool, talking to people that I knew. It was getting to the point were I either needed to leave or order a beer. I choose to leave.
Something wonderful happened to me that day. I no longer needed to stay sober. I wanted to stay sober and do anything I could to stay sober. I surrendered. My thinking changed that day. The obsession was lifted and that was my 1st spiritual experience
Something wonderful happened to me that day. I no longer needed to stay sober. I wanted to stay sober and do anything I could to stay sober. I surrendered. My thinking changed that day. The obsession was lifted and that was my 1st spiritual experience
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