Does anyone stop the first time?
 

I'm attempting sobriety for the first time in my life since beginning to drink. And as much as this website is helping me, it also has me worried that next to no one is able to quit the first time they try. A lot of people have said falling off the wagon is just part of the process. Do people really believe this? Because it really is a shot to my confidence in trying to break the habit. Can anyone on here attest to being able to quit and not looking back at their first attempt? I could really use the encouragement.

I consider this my first attempt because before this I didn't make it past day one... I did stay sober for a week then drink again but I consider that a false start rather than a relapse. This was something I worried about too, but less as time went on. I considered it my AV trying to convince me that I wouldn't make it and that it would be 'acceptable' to relapse... just try and ignore those thoughts. I know there are quite a few people on here who quit first time x

Relapse is common, but I don't believe it's inevitable binger...it certainly doesn't need to be :)

I went back to drinking many times, but since I decided to put everything I had into my recovery, I haven't drunk again - that was nearly 6 years ago now.

I really believe you get out of your recovery what you put in...

a lot of people underestimate the task or overestimate themselves - including me many times....but if you're determined not to drink again no matter what, you make that a priority, and you pull out all the stops to keep making that happen?

you can stay sober for the rest of your life :)

D

I'm sure it is possible.
I know I could have saved myself a whole lot of grief and reclaimed (many) years of my life had I actually quit the first time I ever said: "I will never drink again." (just words.)
I had lots of half-hearted attempts over the years which I can look back on and realize my mind was not truly set on getting sober for any length of time. I'd dry out for 1 to 3 days and go right back drinking because I never thought beyond those short reprieves.
If you are strong in your resolve to not drink and make a huge change in lifestyle you can do it.
Best wishes. :grouphug:

My longest-standing friend in recovery went into treatment on 12/19/83 and has been sober ever since. I went to AA and got my 'desire' chip (24-hr chip) on 6/23/86 and have been sober since. My best bud in recovery got her desire chip on 6/1/86 and has been sober ever since; I could go on, but..........so, it is possible.

(o:

What a relief :)

MrsKing is probably sleeping right now, or she would post. She is a wonderful success story (not to mention a great member of this community), and she hasn't picked up since her decision to stop.

Glad you are here.

I am a multiple attempter. I am not sure though if I had the right mindframe every time. Sometimes going back to it was a very active process, and at the time I wouldn't have been too troubled by it. In that sense the relapse starts way before the first drink.

I stopped drinking and started AA on April 15, 1998 and haven't had a drink since. Having had previous suicide attempts while drinking, I knew if I picked up again, I wouldnt be able to make it back and would just kill myself. That helped keep me sober, and an amazing group of others that had around the same time as me. We did it together.

I stopped the first time. February 9, 2012.

Read SR compulsively and post. You will learn from others experience. I am sad when anyone relapses. But when I do read about the pain and suffering it causes, it reinforces my commitment not to drink, no matter how much I may ever want to.

The thing people dont realize is, the longer you stick it out, the more you want to stick it out.

I stopped drinking 30 Aug 2011... ok. I have got liver disease, but many in my predicament carry on. :)

My first time to say I quit and this is for good is successful, 3 1/2 months ago. Before that, I often had times i cut back, did the every other day routine, but I had never before said never again. I am not going to change my mind. I learned I was an alcoholic during these last months after I became aware of what alcohol was robbing from my life. I could not see it while actively drinking and did not see it until I had stopped for a couple of months.

falling off the wagon happens, but is not part of the process. there are many, many, people that got and stayed sober the 1st time. i didnt. the cause was the same thing i have seen quite often in others: i didnt do anything to change me and my thinking.

I decided that I could no longer live the life I had on Oct. 15th, 1999. I knew about AA from a business associate and golfing buddy. I didn't know what else to do so I went to a meeting and kept going. I paid attention to what the members of the meetings I attended told me they had done and with no better ideas, I did what they did.

In a very few weeks I will mark 13 years sober and I am quite content with life as it is. Drinking has not been an option for me since that Oct. day back in 1999. I could not see how drinking again would make my life better, therefore I didn't. I attend very few meetings, but when I feel I need to I do. It seems pretty simple to me, and when asked by others who are trying to quit I only have my only story so I tell it to them.

It was a struggle in the beginning, but the alternative was worse. Alcohol doesn't help my life, so once I quit I was done. I know several folks who have done the same. To answer your question; I know many people who quit and did not start again and these are people with decades of sobriety. I don't hang out with folks who went back to drinking because I don't drink. It is that simple for me, what others experience I can't really speak to.

Jon

A part of the addiction process, yes. Not part of the recovery process. I've kept journals for over twenty years. Entries going back over ten years record my struggle with drinking. At the time I didn't consider them relapses because I frankly wasn't trying to "recover." Whatever I called them, these slips, I'd quit, then drink, quit, then drink, over and over. That's addiction.

True sobriety, recovery, started when I finally admitted I had a alcoholism, surrendered to my struggle, and found my way to SR. Haven't relapsed since.

Blessed to be sober for two years.

Yup. Had may last drink on 7/17/08. First shot at it. Recovered through AA. Relapse is certainly not necessary. Learn from other people's mistakes

I did that too...My first attempt at AA July 1st 2011....I have learned from letting other people do my research. I did make one half assed attempt on my own about 10 years before....It didn't work out too good.

I worried (worry) about the same thing binger, as this is my first attempt at sobriety. Then I realized that every day for the last 5 years of my drinking career was an attempt...and a subsequent failure. I never went longer than a day. So really I'm on about my 1,800th attempt. :c031:

Yes..It is possible and if you want it you can do it! I was an all day Gin head for ALOT of years,and woke up one morning after a rock bottom night,and QUIT! One day at a time of course.When I think about a drink,I think of me going down the same path and I do not like that life,so it keeps me sober.You will see things improve in all aspects of life,More freedom that is for sure.Good luck Binger!

I used the fact that relapse seemed inevitable as an excuse to relapse. Any excuse would have done the trick, but that one was the most prominent. I do, however, think you can quit the first time if you're conviction and maturity level is strong.

Get into a program and make sure you learn as much as you can about relapse prevention. Even if you don't have any symptoms now - learn them. Early identification is key to stopping relapse.

Good luck.