Cobalt

I'm done drinking for life.

It's taken too much of a toll on my health and soul. Haven't had a drink in a week, haven't smoked any pot either. I quit cigarettes over a year ago and also gave up soda pop and junk food.

Everything is fine in moderation, but I'm not good at moderating anything, so I'm just giving them up altogether.

I've already lost 7 pounds and my waist line is smaller. No more hangovers, ever. This is what living should be.

Hopefully this post will encourage others to realize you can surpass your addictions. I might still be an addict but I'm not using.

Stay well everyone.

gettingsmarter

Sounds great Cobalt. That's where I'm at. I have drank enough in my life. I'm just done with it.

ScottFromWI

That's great news Cobalt, very happy to hear you've found some peace with your addiction. Don't be a stranger and remember someone is always here if you need support.

brynn

Quitting for good.... forever..... is a great decision, cobalt! Well done on drawing a line in the sand and saying No More!
I find that having made the decision to never drink again and never change my mind has freed me immensely! Drinking is not an option. Period. Ive got better things to do with my time and energy!

dwtbd

Great decision Cobalt, you got this

Dee74

Good for you cobalt

D

Cobalt

Thanks everyone.

It's good to finally make the decision and stick to it.

Looking forward to the rest of my life without self destructive behavior and vices.

gaffo

It just keeps getting better and better.

Greenwood618

But how can you know you will never drink again?

And what about:

PAWS, withdrawal, addiction, your childhood, your job complaints, depression, anxiety, your relationship issues, fatigue, itching, good weather, bad weather, free time, no free time, vacations, weddings, boredom, other people's opinions, work parties, work trips, airline flights, cruises, dying and dead people and pets, love for the taste of alcohol, hatred of the taste of alcohol, that alcohol makes you feel good, that alcohol makes you feel bad, your experiences in high school, that certain songs make you want to drink, that certain people make you want to drink, insomnia, too much sleep, housework, personal debt and hunger, anger, loneliness and tiredness, each of which are certain to happen at some point every day for the rest of your life?

Cobalt

I've made the decision to never drink again.

It's as simple as that.

I think you're making some pretty bold assumptions for what will or won't come into my head "every day for the rest of my life" as you put it. Drinking has been the cause of almost every problem I have. The only time things got better was when I stopped drinking entirely. Your laundry list of things we all have to deal with in life is not the problem - alcohol is. So I'm removing the problem from my life so I can live the way I did before I ever started drinking six years ago.

I don't want to drink anymore. Alcoholics will never stop drinking until their desire to stop outweighs their desire to drink. I've finally gotten to that point and to be honest I'm not worried about a thing. Life is getting better and it will continue to get better from now on.

I hope everyone that is still struggling will find the peace that I have found and make that final decision to begin a new life without alcohol. I've gotten my faith back in a sense. I believe again.

Mags1

Nice one, cobalt. I agree, I decided that I don't drink anymore, the rest was making a life without hangovers, regrets, memory loss, etc. piece of cake? Of course not, but our lives back, that's gotta be a good thing.

Greenwood618

Cobalt, first of all, congratulations.

Quitting once and for all with a powerful sense of personal determination is how most people quit and always have, going back to the dawn of history.

It used to be a well-known method common to the world's great religious denominations.

Many Catholic and high Protestant abstinence doctrines are based upon a vow of permanent, planned cessation of drinking based upon moral obligation to the drunkard's family, God, employer and peers.

In those traditions, abstinence is a once and for all decision, not a drawn out process involving a lot of other people and moving parts.

Religious or not, you can be proud of being part of a long tradition of planned, permanent abstinence.

I wrote my tongue-in-cheek post because those purported reasons I cited to drink, and circumstances deemed dangerous to drinkers, have within the past week or so, been listed here on Sober Recovery by others as perilous to drinkers and obstacles to permanent and immediate cessation.

You, however, are to be congratulated for letting nothing get in your way.

Also, I can almost guarantee you will get hungry or tired every 24 hours or so, at the very least.

However, I can tell one thing that you will not get is drunk.

I must warn you, if you don't already know, that there are people who will try to undermine your great victory. There are those will say in seriousness, as opposed to my joking hyperbole, that you cannot quit forever.

If you are quitting using a vow of personal abstinence between only yourself and your family or friends, there are those who will tell you that you cannot quit alone, that you are "isolating" and anti-group and harming the "community" by not joining up.

But it is quite obvious you will not listen to any of that. Again, congratulations.

Hawkeye13

Cobalt, once I got to the "I'm done with this for good stage" I have found sobriety very rewarding and not all that difficult to maintain.

I don't have much in the way of temptations these days because I know all too well what happens if I pick up the first one.

I am not so much "not drinking" as living a sober life these days and I don't even think about or want alcohol.

My point is, everyone has a different experience and cravings / obsessions / temptations aren't always the case

zjw

I've had to apply that exact same thought pattern with a lot more then just drinking. But I learned the lesson really well and the hard way i might add with giving up booze. But once i learned it with booze I found it easy to apply with oher things. IE i cant eat cake i cannot moderate it it makes me fat and feel bad so I just wont eat it at all and so on. I applied the same to cigarettes.

I sorta went the other way with exercise I cannot seem to moderate my exercise so i just embraced my inability to be moderate in that area haha.

So being unable to moderate squat cant be used in our favor in a few different ways.