grimupnorth

Just a quick update on my situation.

Firstly I'd like to thank you all for your kind words and advise as it is much appreciated.

Unfortunately will power and self control is not a huge strength of mine so sine all of the great advise I recieved I decided to ignore it when I ended up going out. I went to a gig at the beginning of the week and drank. Luckily I managed to control my drinking and had an amazing night and felt in control for the entire not but got a little tipsy.

Secondly comes last night, I was adamant i wasn't heading into town or to have a 'heavy one' but after a few drinks I was easily persuaded by my group of friends to go into town and get annihilated. Which is what happened, today I am feeling dreadful. Mostly full of regret at my inability to control myself especially after such good advise from you guys regarding my drinking. I have a couple of 'nights out' lined up over the next couple of weeks that will inevitably end up with me drinking, any advise for cutting down in how much I drink? Also I'm due to go to Hannover in Germany for 4 nights in December and know for a fact I will be drinking heavily over that period.

Dee74

I have no tips for cutting back. It never worked for me.

I'm afraid I believe it's all or nothing - I cannot control how much I drink - although lucky nights where nothing bad happened kept me hoping....

In the end it wasn't willpower that got me sober - it was acceptance - acceptance that alcohol controlled me, not the other way around...so I quit.

I hope you don't have to drink for 20 years to work out its all or nothing for you too Grim.

D

hypochondriac

Willpower is over rated, and personally, my idea of hell. Any attempts of cutting back drinking didn't work for me. Well sure, I had nights where it wasn't a complete disaster, and nights where I didn't drink much, but that was usually cos I was so sick from the night before, which technically is a con. Truthfully I can count the number of times I only had a few drinks on my hands. I also had nights out coming up when I was trying to cut down/quit. Because I had already convinced myself that it would be hard not to drink and I would probably end up drinking, I did. I also thought, well if I am going to end up drinking that night what's the point in quitting now... So I just carried on drinking every night. When I finally did quit I had a few social events which I managed to get through sober. It was tough but I did it. Then I thought stuff this and didn't go out for a good few months so I could concentrate on my sobriety. Life isn't all about those odd nights out. Now they don't bother me and I could happily go on holiday for weeks sober. But I had to work on myself for a long time first. I am afraid there is no quick fix. There are choices, you can quit forever and end the hell of trying to control your drinking, or you can try controlled drinking and have to keep tabs on every little thing you drink and use that willpower you speak of. Personally this ended up with me thinking about alcohol way too much, and it never worked for me anyway. Look into something called AVRT (rational recovery). That explained my ambivalence towards alcohol very well and helped me make that choice... Good luck whatever you do x