Tom_Leafs

Hey guys I'm back, been a long time member. Need to quit drinking again for me and my health and life.

What are some things that you guys found that could lead to replapes?

I also have an bad anxiety problem but I'm getting treatment for that right now. My anxiety problem I think is what really drives my alcholism.

I'm on day 2 sober

ScottFromWI

Welcome back Tom, congrats on making the choice to quit.

Regarding your question, I avoided bars and other events solely centered around drinking for at least a couple of months. Also got rid of any alcohol in the house of course. I think most importantly though I kept busy working on life and recovery. Even if it was simply busy work like cleaning the house, I planned my day out ahead of time. Idle time leads to an idle mind and the drinking thoughts creep back in.

IOAA2

Hi. It is very possible that your anxiety problem is driven by consuming alcohol.
I keep repeating the same thing that leads into recovery.
Being honest with ourselves about our own drinking, eliminate denial.
Accepting that we cannot drink in safety, period.
Use all the tools available, even when we don’t want to.
It’s work so accept it while we have a chance to recover because continued drinking never gets better if we are alcoholic.

BE WELL

trachemys

You should avoid alcohol. There is absolutely no reason why you have to drink alcohol. None.

PurpleKnight

Welcome back Tom!!

Keep it simple, if you are not near alcohol then you won't drink, lock yourself in your house if you need to, but alcohol doesn't drink itself!!

You can do this!!

Climber122

You may have heard this one, but try to avoid hunger, anger, loneliness and fatigue. the acronym looks like this: HALT

HUNGRY
ANGRY
LONELY
TIRED

Acronyms are great because you can bring them to mind under a stressful situation - it's why the military uses them so much. HALT is a simple way to remember the physical needs attention along with the mental and spiritual aspects of us.

If you're worried about relapse (which is a normal worry to have) then make sure you eat well, have someone to talk to about anger with (good friend, family, counselor etc.) reach out to others (caveat to this is that it's best not to hang with friends who are drinking, or going to bars, hockey games - any place you traditionally have been drinking) and get plenty of rest. It's also advisable to not do this alone - if you can find a support group or counselor to walk you through this it would be a good thing.

SparkyMcSparky

Posted this in another thread as well - as a child of an alcoholic myself, I had anxiety issues my entire life. It was only once I discovered alcohol that I found a way to numb it down a bit.

Did you have anxiety before your drinking problem? In my case, dealing with the anxiety was the first step. Quitting drinking was the second.

freshstart57

Tom, a good way to avoid alcohol is to avoid doing the things that drinkers do. All of them.

Instead of fretting about what to avoid, it was more helpful for me to learn what to include. Start filling your life with the good stuff and the bad stuff gets pushed off the table. What is the good stuff? This is a question you need to ask yourself and answer for yourself. You can do anything you choose to do now without the self-imposed limitations of addiction. What's on your to do list?

Gargery

I don't know if this applies to you, but you might want to avoid all drugs and intoxicants. I was an occasional pot smoker and occasionally took prescription drugs recreationally. When I stopped drinking a few months ago, I stopped those other things as well to give strict sobriety a try. It hasn't been a bed of roses, but I'm still sober.

Good luck.

matt4x4

What should I avoid when quiting drinking?
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!ALCOHOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!

Tom_Leafs

Thanks guys still sober

Day 4

gardendiva

Stress and fatigue.

Afteralcohol

I didn't avoid anything, exactly: my husband drinks (not problematically) and there's always alcohol in the house. But I did add stuff in, right from the start. I started blogging, which was the main thing that helped and continues to help. From there I started adding in other writing, and reaching out to other people, and developing other hobbies generally. It fills in the gap that alcohol occupied.

Day four is GREAT.

SparkyMcSparky

Good job Tom.

I was going to add that to quit drinking, it is usually recommended to stop watching Leafs games.

LOL.