Sammy1980

My recovery is very new, only 17 days. I was just wondering at what point or do you ever stop thinking about alcohol? Is there ever a day or week that goes by that you say "Hey I didn't think about it"
For some reason I am feeling really strong this time to never drink again. It is not fun anymore and never will be.

Doug39

Congrats on quitting.

I am 97 days sober and I go to AA meetings several times a weeks so I am always reminded of my alcoholism.

I am sure if one day I stop going to AA and remain sober I my forget about alcohol.

I quit smoking cigarettes in 1992 and I rarely think about smoking now.

The bad thing is drinking is such a big force in our culture - we see it everywhere - we may never be able to not think about it.

FeelingGreat

Hi Sammy, because you've trained your brain to resort to alcohol at any excuse, (and I've come up with doozies) giving up drinking can turn up the volume of cravings, intrusive thoughts and generally dwelling on the idea of a drink.

You will find this diminishes over time as you start to rely on other things to get you through trigger times. It can take a year or two - everyone's different - but long term sober people like me often don't think about drinking for days or weeks at a time, and even then the thoughts are easily dismissed.

Discipline your thoughts as much as possible when you find drinking popping into your brain intrusively. There are common sense things like staying away from bars, but you can substitute as well with a soft drink or a cup of tea. You know what works best for you, so make a plan. Practice, practice, practice.

Maudcat

It lessens over time. Glad you got to the "I'm done!" Point. It really helps to have a recovery program of support, like AA or SMART.

August252015

Great job on 17 days!!

Are you working a program? I am a dedicated AA-er and my experience (I am 341 days sober) has been that my thinking about alcohol has completely shifted. I don't think about the act of drinking- I think about recovery 99% of the time and what I am doing to support it. I took drinking off the table last Feb and now alcohol is a non-issue, something I just don't "do." The rest of it- working my program, my spiritual life, all my interests and friends and relationshisp and work- follow from that one decision.

On a simply practical level, I was VERY sick when I quit and I spent the first weeks getting better. I was coming back to life and after immediate withdrawal I experienced signifcant PAWS. Everyone's experience is different- I saw a big shift in nearly everything around 100 days.

Hope to see you around! Everything gets better with time.

abcowboy

I'm just over 2 years sober Sammy and I don't think about alcohol very often. When I do, I call it the "I wishes", I wish I could drink normally. But I know I can't because I didn't drink foe the taste, I didn't drink to be social, I drank to get drunk. That will never change.

Congrats on your AF days! You're doing what needs to be done for people like us. Your recovery will be tested, but by accepting that you can never have just one, you'll pass those tests with flying colors!

PhoenixJ

To think about alcohol for me means I do not want to every go through the hell I caused myself and others because I fell prey to it. It is a defense mechanism. I have seen many fall- not because they thought about drinking, using, smoking, injecting- they did it almost instinctively. Thinking about booze for me means my thinking is being rewired to a natural default, with the underlying constant voice in my head telling me (by choice0 that to drink is to die.
Prayers to you. Talking, sharing, posting, journaling- meetings all help me to make the canvas that is my life have more layers. PJ

Steely

Yes, thoughts of drinking only occasionally enter my head, now that I have taken alcohol completely off the table. As August ^^^ says, I think about my recovery now, and it's a much more interesting and rewarding way to think. Ah, sobriety, thank you.

I am slowly replacing alcohol with real world activities (plan), which so outweigh, in terms of reward, the hell and short lived experience that alcohol pretended to offer. It was a con to which I was blind. And now I can see.

Congratulations on your 17 days.

BullDog777

I'm almost at 11 months, It took awhile for me. My first 4 months was rehab so it was an everyday thing i thought about. Not so much "when can i ever do this again?" but more "how the hell can i sustain this sobriety." So one day at a time....

I still check in 3-4 times a week, but i can only think of twice in the past 3 or so months I actually thought about it. Like a relapse plan started to creep in... I ran like hell to a meeting, told my wife and shared about it here.

Even then, it was fleeting enough for me to recognize that I didn't really want to drink, I just didn't know how to process the feelings I was having and that was my knee jerk reaction.

This is a death sentence for me and many others. In the big book it says "What we have is a daily reprieve, contingent upon the maintenance of our spiritual condition" What that means to me is if I surround myself with all the right people and tools and are honest about where I'm at, then I'll most likely get out of it what I put in it.

The "compulsion" leaves relatively quickly. It's figuring out how to live life on life's terms that is sometimes a real bitc#.

It gets a lot easier...down right fun as hell sometimes.

Sammy1980

So far when I have a craving I stop and think where it will lead me. It will take me right back to the place I do not want to be! I replay in my mind all that I hate about drinking. So far it has been working.
I miss the real me and want myself back!

BullDog777

That has proven to be a great mystery for me. I didn't know who I was when I got sober. It's taken me almost a year to get a mild understanding. The last time I was the "real" me, I was probably 25. I'm creepin in on 44 now. Largely, I think I had to reinvent a lot of myself emotionally speaking.

entropy1964

I don't really know Sammy. I have only 5.5 months so its very early for me too. When I had 2 years I still 'thought' about alcohol. I'm guessing I always will 'think' about it.

That being said I rarely crave it or obsess about drinking it. That angle usually diminishes over time, especially when I'm working a program.

I would imagine that as an alcoholic I will always be hyper aware of alcohol. Its everywhere after all. But my experience has been that lessens over time.

tomsteve

for me there is a difference between the mental obsession and thinking about alcohol. I had the mental obsession for quite some time. took about 5-6 months before I had 24 hrs without thinking about alcohol as a solution.
i still think about it from time to time- more of an interest in a drink and not as a solution. but i let it go

RecklessEric

I don't know if there's a point where you'll stop thinking about it.
It's a part of your history and you can't wipe it away.

My view is that it's how you think about it.
I tend to think, "That would be nice but how will it end?".
And the answer is always, "Badly".

courage2

I'd add to what tomsteve said -- there's the mental obsession which for me only very rarely rears its head; there's thinking about it, like when I see an attractive bottle in a shop window, and I just dismiss that;

--and there's thinking intentionally and fearlessly about what drinking has done to my life.

Focus some serious time every day on that one and it will beat out the others.

courage2

what drinking and what *not drinking* have done to my life. There's a lot of gratitude in my thoughts every day.

Steely

I wanted to add that I have had long periods of sobriety during my career, 5 years being my personal best.

During each of these periods the compulsion to drink did leave with time, but at the back of my mind I still held a belief that one day I would be able to successfully drink again. Didn't know when or where, but my ego and *intellect* would not accept that I could not drink *socially* again, and that all I needed was to apply my will.

I still carried a mind over matter approach, and each time I failed, and each time was worse than the last. Could not accept that this really WAS for life, and I could not take one single drink.

This breakthrough saw my ego dissolve, and a complete acceptance, and wanting, to never drink again. It freed me up entirely, and at 91 days feel happier than at any time during those 5 years of doubt. One day, one day.....harm reduction, blah, blah, blah.

This is not to say that I don't struggle with life during these early day.

It took the acceptance, which I now embrace with joy and gratitude.

It took me a long time to reach this point, years; others are lucky enough to *get it* early. I am not envious of these people, glad in fact, and just so very grateful that eventually, I did *get it*. Many do not.

I hope you are one of those who *gets it* early too, you will save yourself a lot of grief and wasted years.

BrendaChenowyth

What are you doing to fill the time you used to spend drinking?

Hevyn

Hi Sammy.

I'm 9 yrs. in, and I rarely think of it now. In the early months I thought of it all the time. As we get busy with our new, hopefully fulfilling lives - we realize it's not needed. I clung to it long after it was no longer fun - I don't know why I found it so hard to let go of something that made me miserable. I'm glad you realize it has no place in your life.

Congrats on your 17 days - that's fabulous.

Willdoit

I have stopped and started too many times , like you say I look at a sober life and think what will I do.

3 days clean now, I was getting smashed one day one day off then smashed again,,,, I guess I was a binge drinker.

Anyway thanks for your view , like lots it helped me.. next time I want a drink I must login here.