BlueFairy

Looking to speed up this process I found a really cool article, very informative.

http://drlwilson.com/Articles/alcoholism.htm

I also looked around for statistics on alcoholics and found out there's not as many drinkers out there as I thought. 30% roughly of Americans don't drink and many who do are one a day people, or less. It's 10 % that seem to drink the most--something like 10 drinks a day. IE alcoholics I guess. I'm kind of disappointed in that I thought by stopping drinking I'd end up better off than most of america lol. But then again knowing so many don't drink is kind of comforting too.

Fly N Buy

Glad you're here, welcome!

I looked up every stat I could find when I quit - I think that's natural, at least I did as well.

Most people, especially ones with drinking problems - really don't engage in surveys. I would speculate that the numbers are much greater than supposed, but that is conjecture on my part.

Regardless - when we maintain sobriety, we get a chance to be better than the old us - or US! That is what truly makes a difference.

There is no fast track to sobriety. It simply takes stacking days - I too wanted 1,5, 7 years of sobriety immediately, It just doesn't work that way.

But time passes quickly - we will get older and today will be in the distant past with the blink of an eye. So, we get to choose; we will be sober or still wishing and regretful????

Glad your with us in the US and elsewhere!!!

zjw

interesting read. the vitamin cure for alcoholism by andrew saul is good as well he has good info on his site too.

I do however disagree withe recomendation to avoid fruits lol. I eat a very high carbohydrate low fat vegan diet and have plenty of energy and feel great. I've eaten how he recomends and I lacked energy etc.. I also run a lot so I really need the carbs and nutrition fro the fruit etc..

Berrybean

What are you trying to speed up??

Looking back over your thread, you seem to be in a real whirl. Trying to think about improving yourself; changing lots of thing in your life; worrying about everyone else and what they should be doing; and wanting recovery to come quickly.

When I was in early recovery I had a severe case of 'washing machine head', and like you I wanted to get everything sorted, and done and dusted asap. I nearly did myself a mischief with that attitude. Then I went along to AA and heard advice along the lines of keeping things simple and focussing on staying sober just for the day you're in; avoid hunger, anger, loneliness and getting tired; say the serenity prayer to help you focus on changing the things you can change (yourself) and accepting the things you can't change (others); keep your side of the street clean and don't worry about what others are doing... well, it all seemed a bit 'nothing' to be honest. I wanted to be getting on with it all and doing it N O W. Thank goodness that I did start to listen in the end. It took a while, but things (15 months later) are looking much better, most of the time. And on the days when they don't seem better, I can generally figure out what I'm doing / thinking wrong and turn things around and start my day over. If I can't figure it out I know I can call or text my sponsor or one of my AA buddies to ask them to help me out with my skewed perspective.

You're obviously willing to work hard on your recovery, so I'm sure it will come for you. But recovery will happen when it happens. There's no need to put so much pressure on yourself. Just stay sober, listen and learn and you will get well - slowly but surely.

TrixMixer

Statistics...MEH! You put one foot in front of the other until the day comes your sober for a month, than six months, a year --yada, yada, yada. Never try and imagine what the future will be without alcohol--you just do it!

That is how this cat did it!!

tomsteve

I am 100% successful at not drinking today. I've managed to achieve a few 100% successful days in a row by doing it one day at a time. I didn't get to where I was the day after my last drunk over night. It was gonna take T.I.M.E. and footwork to get away from there.
A d what a lesson in patience!
Patience isn't about whatim doing while waiting. It's about my attitude- what I'm thinking, during that T.I.M.E.
Whether or not I'm better off than the rest of America or the world I truly don't know. I do know I am waaaaaayyyyyy better off than when I was drinking. A d I'm not talking about materialistic things. That stuff I really don't care about any more. No more trying to keep up with the joneses. Changed my perception and I am now the joneses. Doesn't mean I have a big nice house , fancy car, nice bank account,etc as I dont. Never will have any of that either.
And I'm ok with that. I have shoes on my feet when some don't have feet, a shirt on my back when others don't, food in my belly when some won't eat tonight, and a roof over my head when some will be sleeping outside tonight.
Something I ask myself occasionally:
If I had every materialistic thing taken from me and was left with nothing but the clothes on my back, could I still be happy?
If the answer is no, I have work to do on me. And since the answer is I don't know, I have work to do on me.

Life sober is a journey. Take it easy and enjoy it!

Soberwolf

Glad your here BlueFairy i agree with Fly

MelindaFlowers

Discovering how little most people drink has been a huge relief to me. I've been sober a year and I've had this time to observe others as they drink and boy do people drink, well, not much.

I watch people sip on a 12 ounce beer for 40 minutes. They set it down and apparently forget about it for periods of time, only to look down and remember oh! Better take another sip. the beer is gone some 40 minutes later and they may (or often not) have a second. In my head, I'm always thinking "gosh that beer went through them in the hour it took to drink it so they aren't even getting buzzed." I used to be an expert counter at just how many drinks I'd had and how many hours had passed.

I've also noticed that people leave drinks unfinished. Unfinished. Huh?

I went to a wedding after I've been sober about five months and it was younger people, in their twenties and thirties, cool LA people with tattoos. I was talking with a nice lady before the reception and then when it came time to sit down she looked at her half empty beer and set out loud "gosh I need to get rid of this" before she sat down. She placed it on a waiter's tray and never saw it again. Can you imagine? I spent most of the evening with her and I don't think she actually drank anything else.

Because I was sober and feeling a little bit on edge, I kept a very keen eye on everybody drinking like a case study. The average consumption would've been about two beers. I did not see one person in the whole wedding visibly drunk or obnoxious. The bar closed about 10 PM and people continue dancing and nobody seem to care that it had closed. There was no hard liquor at the wedding.

These are a few other random observations I've had over my 379 days of watching and learning.

A six pack to most people is "stocking up." A twelve pack is like Costco quantity to them, staying in the pantry for god knows how long.

People make really weak drinks.

They splash the liquor into it like they're trying to conserve it. These seem to make them "tipsy" according to them and even though they don't appear drunk in the slightest. (Back when I was drinking my drinks were probably triples. I never measured though. A few times people would pick up my drink by mistake and take a sip and wretch like they had just taken a drink of Tabasco sauce. oh my god! What's IN that??

When people exclaim at work I NEED a drink after today they really do mean one drink.

People buy a bottle of hard liquor and it stays in their fridge like ketchup or mustard, and lasts probably as long. I know people who've had a fifth of vodka in their cupboard for months. My grandmother's handle of Christmas brandy is probably five years old.

I have yet to meet anyone who drinks two drinks a day. 99% of the people I know do not drink every day. They may be drink once a week or twice a week and when they do it's 1 to 3 beers. Usually at a happy hour at a bar. They do not continue drinking when they get home.

People bring a six pack of beer to a party to SHARE.........share.......
I went to a Halloween party and I counted twelve beers for six people. I was one of the six. When the night ended about 11 PM and everybody was leaving I saw, (are you sitting?).......TWO BEERS unopened on the counter. How about some math? 10 beers split by five people = 2 beers each.

One last observation I've had is that when people do get their drink on (which some people I know do every now and then) they have a hangover the next day and do not drink again for weeks or months.

Nobody I know drinks more when they get home from the bar.

Once again, I think my biggest surprise that most people do not drink two drinks a day. They drink two drinks a few days a week. I would have a hard time coming up with a list of people who drink 14 drinks a week.

Fly N Buy

Melinda has Trun(k)cated some very good observations, several I have encountered over the last year myself. There's a lot more "normal" drinking out there than really thought - and - WE can identify someone who is one of us pretty darn quick.

All that said, I would seek those at a party, bar etc who were like minded and we'd drink in packs.......unsober wolves, if you will.......

BlueFairy

When I wasn't drinking it didn't seem like anyone else did much either. Except for my parents...something dawning there...
When I was drinking it seemed everyone drank. I'd make a comment to a customer and they'd be right there with you. Doesn't help I work next to the alcohol section of our store I guess lol.

BlueFairy

Yeah--that is what I was just thinking, I could tell another drinker--strange.