Love Or Hate Alcohol?
 

Do U still love...or do u hate alcohol now, being sober? Im sober. but i still find myself lovingly thinking of alcohol on a daily basis. and when i say i love alcohol, i believe i truly do. If i could hate it with all my being...i wouldnt miss it so. and why do i love something thats so bad for me? This must be some type of craving. but i find myself constantly thinking about alcohol...which isnt good.

I don't "hate" alcohol. Nor do I love it. I certainly did think about it a lot though, especially in the early days after I quit.

I think it's very important for all addicts to accept that the alcohol is not the problem...the problem is us. And just taking away the alcohol does not fix the problem unfortunately. That's where this crazy thing called "recovery" comes in. What recovery means is a completely individual thing, for me it meant seeking help for my anxiety, improving my health, and learning to face life on it's own terms. It was a very tall order but it was very much worth it.

When I think of my relationship with alcohol, I think of the last serious relationship I had. Things were great in the beginning. Lots of fun. Over time, the good times became less and less and the pain staying in this relationship grew. Even with this, I was determined to stay with this person, thinking things would get better, but it never did. It took a crisis to wake me up and see things for what it was. I still miss the good times I had with her but I know it was a toxic relationship and I'm much better off now that I moved on. John

I hate it. Anything in between, too close to tolerating.

I am ambivalent about alcohol. It is just another substance to me. What I used to like was the effect. The sense of ease and comfort that comes from a few drinks, except that I could never stop at a few, I nearly always overshot.

Through living my life in a different way, I find I can achieve that sense of ease and comfort without the need for chemicals. Comfortable in my own skin is one way to describe it. Leading a purposeful, satisfying life is another.

I don't have feelings about the beverage. I sometimes am not real happy that I'm an addict :). Most of the time I'm ok with it tho. Just is.

Doesn't matter what I think of it, it'll still be there doing its thing. Important thing is there is nothing in it for me anymore.

The problem was never Alcohol...it was my alcoholism.

P

Yea I don't love it or hate it. It's just a fact of life. Some people can drink responsibly and normally and I accept that. But if I drink it I get drunk.

I think what annoys me the most about it is people that don't take it seriously. Like people who judge you for NOT drinking. Just an observation (vent).

I used to 'love' it, truth was, I needed it. :( When I first got sober, I hated alcohol. Now I have no feelings about it, except for a sadness of what it takes away from us. :(

I hate what I allowed it to do to me, but I don't hate it. I guess I fell that would give it to much power. I do love some of the times we had together, but I don't love it either.

That's an excellent starting point, 120, and your honesty is refreshing. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I don't usually like to quote the AA book, but this is one particular gem that I do agree with:

Thinking about something, in and of itself, is not bad. We all have thoughts that wouldn't be very wise to act on, no? Bill Clinton's escapades come to mind, for example.

Either way, it's good to be honest with yourself, and to admit that part of you loves the effect produced by alcohol. Drinking it may certainly lead to injuries or catastrophic losses, but it's still better to acknowledge reality.

I don't view alcohol as a symptom, and I don't view myself as the problem, but I certainly consider the use of alcohol as a solution to problems to be a problem. I have learned from experience that drinking alcohol to solve problems usually does not end well.

As of Right Now ...
 

After going through detox for the last 3 days, definitely "hating" alcohol as well as the entire industry associated with it! This feeling is not just because of the last experience, either. The industry prefers practicing alcoholics as opposed to alcoholics in recovery. It's all about capitalistic greed. May or may not be a healthy stance, or a popular one, but it is what it is.

Indifferent.

I feel for those suffering from alcoholism, but alcohol itself is neither good nor bad.

D

Booze is the ultimate toxic relationship. Sure there were some good times, but the bad times far surpass them, as for the break up in the first place.
That SOB literally destroys lives.

neither.

Do I love or hate books?
No- same with booze. I hate what I became when I drank. I cannot blame a liquid for who I became. I certainly have a higher awareness and respect of what people do when drinking.

I hate who I am when I have alcohol inside me. I hate the ******, risky choices I make and I hate the way I feel the day after.

I think about alocohol on two levels.

My emotional response, gut feel if you like, has changed a lot over my time of sobriety. When drinking, I thought about alcohol as a friend, something to turn to, even though in the last few years it was obviously a very toxic relationship. Or maybe like close family member, always there as I had been brought up to drink from early days.

That has changed completely. Becuase of the harm alcohol caused my family, and many other people, my gut feel is now diffferent. Imagine someone bullying your child at school, or maybe care staff neglecting your mother in hospital, my feelings about alcohol are similar. Or maybe someone with a superficially attractive personality, witty and lively, but you know to be dishonest and has stabbed you in the back.

So I no longer yearn for alcohol - hate is perhaps a bit strong but I certainly don't feel neutral.

On a rational level alcohol is for me bunch of things - a substance, an industry, various cultures etc - that give moderate pleasure to many people but great harm to a sizeable minority. It's on a spectrum with very harmless substances at one end (tea maybe) and very harmful at the other (crack cocaine). Those with an economic interest in promoting drinking are better placed to do so (advertising budgets etc) than the other side (public health authorities or charities). I don't hate this imbalance but certainly dislike it would campaign to change it.

But isn't all industry about "capitalistic greed?" Isn't the whole point of running a business to make a profit? If you're expecting altruism from for-profit corporations, then maybe you're looking in the wrong place?

The absurdity of a system that provides profit-making opportunities both in getting people to drink and in helping them recover from being drunk might make for interesting debate fodder at the café, but it has little to do with getting or staying sober, IMO.

My motivation for getting sober ultimately had little to do with how much I "hated" or "loved" alcohol. It was simply the right thing -- and the only thing -- to do.

I don't love it or hate it. I don't really think about it any more. If I do think about it (generally in situations where it is around me) mild disgust would be the best way to describe my feeling toward it. I definitely don't romanticize it any more.