calvinx

I was on day 6 and then Saturday night hit. Apparently I was not ready to quit drinking.


I have tried to moderate my drinking and that, of course is a complete joke. My addictive brain is not the least bit interested in moderating, though it will pretend that it is. Trust me. I know that trick of my brain. If I drink moderately, it will just whet my appetite for a real binge drinking episode.

If I have work in the morning, I will arrive 100% sober and not hungover at all every single time. I have no problem not drinking during the work week. I don't even get cravings during that time. On Friday night, I am usually too tired to drink.

Saturday is when the cravings really hit. It will start on Saturday morning and the cravings will just wear me down. I will have an argument with myself all day long about whether or not I should drink. Then around 7pm I will finally cave and let myself go ahead and get drunk.

If I don't have obligations the next day...I will get drunk. Work saves me from getting drunk too often. The obvious answer is to obligate myself to something like church, but I am not a believer.

My issue is that I can not be left alone without obligations without drinking too much. During times such as extended holidays, I am a complete nightmare with my drinking. I will get drunk every second or every third day.

How do I get myself to the point where I can be at home alone with no obligations and not drink?

Most people have protections against drinking too much. A husband or wife and children and church that make getting drunk absolutely unacceptable. These people usually moderate their drinking or abstain. My situation is such that I get drunk easily and no one will know about it.

I need to get to the point where I can just enjoy a day free of obligations without alcohol. How do I do that?

Dee74

Welcome Calvinx

I was a drinker like that too - binging in my 'off time' - but then once I lost my job, all bets were off and I drank like that every day....

Support really helped me get sober and stay sober. This website was a great help to me.

If you think you need real life help as well there's a multitude of approaches you can follow - some of the main players are here:

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...formation.html

There's also information on AVRT from Rational Recovery in our Secular Connections forum

Secular Connections - SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information

glad you've decided to join us

D

dawnie24

Hi calvinx, welcome to SR,

I was like that it was an horrible feelin then I gave into temptation and drink 8cans of fosters but I had the hangover the next mornin I started from once a week then twice a week then 3 times a week I'd have day off drinkin well the hangover went the followin night I'd have drink coz it'll be on my mind...

Now I keep myself busy and try take my mind off it (even tho its difficult), I was like this yesterday and I really wanted one but didn't give into temptation plus my son got a rash all over his body so I took him to childrens a n e I was there till gone 11pm last night I was proud of myself for not drinkin

I am seriously worried bout xmas and new year

doggonecarl

Not true. Nothing will keep an alcoholic from drinking. Not family. Not responsibility. It is up to us to stop ourselves.

Join us. Quit drinking.

DayTrader

I found the only way I could stay stopped......and enjoy it (because let's face it, if "not drinking" sucks you, like me, will probably pick up again before long) was to get involved in recovery and get more sober than I was drunk.

What I mean by that is I believe, for an alcoholic, when we're drinking (aka, "in our disease") ALL of us is drunk - physically, mentally and spiritually. Not picking up gets me physically sober.......but not mentally or spiritually. Inventory, study, therapy, etc can help with mental sobriety, but that still leaves my spiritual sobriety.

It's the spiritual sobriety that AA focuses on.....with real-life experience showing us that when spiritual sobriety is attained, we straighten out mentally and physically as a byproduct. I didn't believe that so I worked on staying physically sober.....but that didn't work. Next.....I went to work on changing my mind and my thinking.....but that didn't work for me either. Low and behold, when I admitted where I was in my life and what was really going on.....and started working on my spiritual sobriety.....not only did I quit drinking but I started feeling a LOT better. Really, from then on, drinking again just doesn't make sense - there's no desire to, no "need" to, and it really doesn't even occur to me...not to mention, I'm pretty darn happy most of the time too.

So, for me, to get to the point you're trying to get to, I had to get to work on my spiritual sobriety.....which is easy as pie in AA - considering that's what the program is based upon (for the most part).

awuh1

I must agree with DayTrader.

Only you can do it but you can't do it alone.

Anna

Calvin, I don't think any person, job or obligation can keep us from drinking, at least not in the long-term.

Living a sober life is something you will need to want to do and then to take action.

Then, you will be able to be alone with yourself and to feel peace.

gaffo

I think I got to the point where I could enjoy a day free of drinking by going through a few where I didn't enjoy it. Today was my 49th day without drinking and it was 90% enjoyable. On a Sunday with two football games on the tube. Amazing! Day 29 was excruciating and days 12-18 were pretty bad too but even those days had lots of great moments. It seems like the more time I put in the better I feel when I'm feeling good. Somehow I was able to click a switch in my brain that has allowed me to not drink no matter what I feel like. I hope you are able to find that switch in your life.