abc

I'm on Day 22 and have had insane cravings lately. Yesterday I walked around an area with a lot of homeless people and looked at them. This relieved my cravings for a while. This is the ultimate in "playing the tape through to the end". Try it!

Zencat

Good going with staying the course... 22 days are great!

There are many way to to stop craving, as you found out. Eventually for me, the cravings were replaced by my ability to let go of my old ideas about drinking in favor of new ways of being alcohol free.

refrigerator

This is very good advice, and is exactly what I have done in my sobriety.

I still hang out with the same people I used to drink with and they still drink in front of me. However, I've had a paradigm shift...so to speak...and when I'm around them I don't even think about drinking.

ImReadyToQuit

Try helping them next time.. Works better.

abc

Yeah it takes a paradigm shift. I don't think I'm there yet. Right now I still would like to drink but I know it is simply not an option. I have started doing things in the real world, like getting out during the day. Before I didn't have to fill my time because it was taken up by drinking and recovering from drinking. So it takes time to adjust to the normie lifestyle, but I have started. I'm just depressed a lot lately. I think that's a good sign because maybe my brain knows I'm serious about quitting this time and it is sad. I really *feel* a profound sense of loss this time.