zane949

I have 14 months sober and want to drink again...I am sick of AA I have worked the steps to the best of my ability and don't feel much different want to try some controlled drinking...any advice?

Mountainmanbob

well that's what I did many times the old controlled drinking routine
I usually found myself in worst matters in next to no time
brought me back with my tail between my legs
and some true willingness to stay sober

I don't enjoy AA that much today
but
I still go to a couple of meetings each week
seems it helps me to stay sober
sometimes just seeing the newcomers suffering there
reminds me of how it was
in my case not to pretty !!

I would go anywhere anytime if it helped me not to take a drink
but then again
when drinking I'm what could be referred to as the town drunk

Mountainman

rungsat69

Make Sure your being completely honest with yourself. it only gets worse

rungsat69

Read page 30 in the Big Book

hypochondriac

Do you think controlled drinking will make you feel better Zane?

Have you seen that thread about between 1 and 2 years yet...? I think that is when people really begin to see changes or at least get the opportunity to make a real effort with their recovery. Maybe AA is not for you but that doesn't mean drinking is the answer. I just can't see how drinking could help anyone?

pinkdog

Hi zane, My advice is to stay sober. It gets better. Really. Don't go backwards. Keep going forward. Sobriety is much better.

Sudz No More

If you can then more power to you but I know that I never could. I know my habit too well to know that moderation quickly becomes obsession. I was never a blackout or over the top type either. I was sort of a heavy moderator lol.

I could moderate a 12 pack like nobody

CharlieNoogan

You haven't worked the steps very well if you still WANT to drink. Are you ready to go back to the way life was for you 15 months ago?

Put some real thought into why you quit in the first place and realize that your addiction progressed while you were sober and things will be much worse than before.

Marcella99

Zane- don't do it. I wish I had your 15 months. If moderation doesn't work out, your back at day 1 like me

DarkDays

Controlled drinking, think of nothing worse . Obsession/ addiction cage yet again.

Sober is better,I mean really better . Maybe look at other things rather than AA

Good luck whatever you do.

Dee74

My advice is to stop...breathe and think carefully.

Are your two choices really AA or controlled drinking?
I doubt it.

If drinking was that great you wouldn't have stopped.

If you could control it you wouldn't have needed to stop or go to AA,

If you don't feel different, maybe it's worth exploring why? how did you expect to feel?

D

tootsl1

Er, why??? How will any amount of alcohol improve your life? If you feel you need it in your life, then you obviously shouldn't have it, and if you don't need it, then why bother at all? Is your problem perhaps unrealistic expectations of sobriety and the kind of life you imagined it would bring?

Baleine

The thing is about moderation or controlled drinking... Is why bother? It's like you know you want to get buzzed, why lie to yourself and pretend you'd be ok with just one or two?

Bluebird1927

If you could control drinking you wouldn't be here in the first place fella. Don't do it

Nirvana1

Talk to your sponsor or anyone else who can talk you out of it.

Remember why you stopped drinking 14 months ago.

What would drinking solve anyways?

Do you really want to have 1 or 2 drinks and force "control" when drinking?

DayTrader

If you're not done drinking you're not done drinking. I haven't seen that experiment work yet but maybe you'll be different from the millions before you.

You said you've worked the steps to the best of your ability. Am I to take it that means once? The steps - and this is NOT the "AA area" so I'd suggest asking this question in the 12-Step recovery portion if you're curious about why you've not experienced any of the PROMISES in the steps - are a way of life. It's not a do it one time deal and you're done.

Like, for example, would you be willing to share how you're practicing the 11th step's morning and evening suggestions? Going further, would you be willing to share how you've experienced and are practicing the 12th step's spiritual awakening as the result and carrying this message? Would you discuss your experience with being "reborn" as it's suggested happens in the third step?

Someone asked me very very similar questions when I was around 1 year sober. My answer......? I didn't have one. I'd gone through the steps but I hadn't experienced any of them. Things changed - profoundly - when I went back through them a second and third time without cutting a lot of corners that I'd cut the first go-a-round.

wakko

Did you work the steps with a sponsor? Have you talked to your sponsor about giving drinking another go? When was the last time you were at a meeting?

Linz

Why don't you try some non-alcoholic beer for a while? Maybe it'll quench your desire to drink without the effect of the horrific crap that comes with the booze?

soberlicious

Don't use being sick of AA as an excuse to continue your addiction. Be sick of AA, that's fine, but that doesn't mean you have to become a drinker again (and likely not find any more happiness than you currently possess). Booze doesn't have magical powers. The presence of it, nor the lack of it, is not what makes a person happy and successful in life.

My advice for controlled drinking? Look at your personal history and fully expect a repeat performance of that.

It's not a choice between AA or drinking. To reduce it to that is simply an excuse. A thinly veiled one I might add.

jaynie04

May I suggest reading some of the member's first posts here....I identify a lot with where drinking got me and I need to be reminded of where it could still take me.