TheLuckyCat

For the members here that have been Sober months and years, i would really like to know, did you not have even one drink during this time?

Your successful run at staying sober, was it absolutely alcohol free?
Or
Did you start by cutting down first?

I'm really curious to know what the majority of the long standing Sober member's attempts at giving up alcohol were like.

Thanks for reading and i look forward to hearing people's responses.

Nonsensical

All of my attempts at cutting down ended with me drinking more.
In the end I just had to quit.

ScottFromWI

To me personally, Sobriety by definition means 100% alcohol free. If I were to willingly/knowingly drink any amount of alcohol - even one sip - I am no longer sober.

Regarding the cutting down part, I tried that many, many times and it never worked. I had to quit entirely in order to get started.

Fly N Buy

I have not had a drink since a little while prior to joining SR in July of 2014. There was indeed a progression to that point, however. I ran like an old car - stop/start/stop/start just putting along.

Then in June of '14 I reached an epiphany. Personally, it was the cumulative disgust of loved ones which finally woke me up. But, it doesn't have to be that way. I know many who drank again, yet stopped in there 20's and 30's and have many, many years of sobriety.

I fall into the category of having spilled more alcohol on myself than others potentially drank. Don't write your journey based on someone else's story.

For this alcoholic attempts at cutting down never lasted very long. Really I wanted to cut down long enough for others to stop bothering me.

paulokes

Personally I quit cold. Was lucky enough to not be in desperate need of medical assistance with withdrawal although it was uncomfortable.

Havent had a single drink since 30th Mar 2009.

I once was handed the wrong drink at a function...took a few sips to realise. Otherwise entirely alcohol free.

I couldn't have "the occasional cigarette" if I wanted. Neither can I have "the occasional drink"

P

dwtbd

When I stumbled on SR I saw mention of RR/AVRT( there are great threads on these ideas here on SR in the Secular Connections forum) and those ideas really resonated with me.
I realized that I hadn't really tried quitting before. Stopping or cutting back or trying to moderate sure I did all that for a long time, but I would always end up drunk and continuing to drink.
I decided to Quit as in for good, no matter what ,never going to drink again and not change my mind, and I did, you can too.
Your AV wants to hear that there are more drinks coming, IT can't believe ITs supply of precious booze will be shut off. You are in control and can make that decision , lock IT up , let IT worry about being deprived , You get to be free of the consequences of indulging IT's desire for the precious stuff. You know it for the poison it is, you'll be glad to be rid of it. Don't pay one more iota of mind, body and soul, just so IT can have the supply keep coming.
Quit and when the AV tries to bargain for more , dismiss the thought and laugh a little at ITs expense, IT was too dumb to realize that last drink was the last drink.
You can do it, rootin for ya

SoberCAH

I haven't had a drink since I ambled into a treatment center quite a while ago.

I couldn't cut back.

I was out of options, except to lose everything that I still had left and die a particularly nasty death.

Only then did I ask for, and receive (I might add), help.

tomsteve

my DOS is 4/23/05. my last drunk(to date) was 4/21/05. i was still drunk when i passed in on the 22nd- terror and bewilderment were extreme. the pain of getting drunk had finally exceeded the pain of reality.
there were uncounted times in my 23 ish years of drinking that i TRIED cutting down. i TRIED to control how much i drank. if i had been able to do that, i wouldnt have passed in with gloom,dispair, and agony on 4/22/05.
i went cold turkey and havent drank since.russian roulette is a game i stopped playing. i know for a fact i MIGHT be able to have a drink or 2 and walk away, but alcoholism WILL become active again and i will be worse off than ever before.

Ringo123

I was fortunate to discover SR having 30 yrs in AA. No 'cutting back' or 'cutting down' for me. Thankfully I hit a bottom that I couldn't ignore in 1986, called AA, went to a meeting and have been sober ever since. I went from being drunk, to hung-over to sitting in an AA meeting in a 48-hr time period.

Hasn't been easy but it's been worth it! We do it one day at a time--sometimes one hour at a time in the beginning.

fini

oh, i tried the cutting back many times. that is: cutting back the number of occasions, not the amount on any one occasion.

since i quit years ago...yes, absolutely alcohol free.

thomas11

I haphazardly tried quitting many times. I also went through the whole cutting down thing. None of it worked. I finally got fed up (and hurt really bad) and decided I really needed to live my life alcohol free. I also came to the conclusion that feeling like crap/or being drunk all the time was a ton of work.

JeffreyAK

To me, too, sober is sober, so no, I haven't had a single drink since my last drink. That was 6+ years ago. Every time I tried cutting down, I failed, so one day I decided, this is really the end, prepare for the detox from hell because I'm done. But, at the time, done wasn't necessarily forever, it was done at least as long as it takes to complete my outpatient treatment program - which was 2 months, and seemed close enough to forever for me. It wasn't until 4-6 weeks later that I really looked at it as, forever.

Dee74

Sober means no alcohol for me, so I had my last drink ten years ago.

Cutting back never worked for me because I couldn't, and I was terrified to see a Dr ( I should have) so I went cold turkey.

Not recommended but thats what I did - should have seen a medico.

D

Gottalife

Much the same here. Cold turkey. Aa member called me on Sunday morning after I had gone m.i.a. Hungover. Went to meeting that night, never drank again. Also, never picked up alternative substances, which is easily done these days.

Mattq2

I was once sober for seven years completely alcohol free. I drank two beers while on vaction. I knew immediately that I had made a giant mistake.

It took me 14 years to get sober again. Those two beers were devastating. So for me sober means never drinking alcohol again. Never

LDT

I've been sober 4 years and 3 months. This is my 2nd (and final) attempt. I was sober for 18 months the first time and decided to "research" whether or not I could moderate. . .....Cutting back didn't work for me so I just gave it up again and haven't looked back.

PhoenixJ

NO- not 1 drink. A plan works by trying, changing- support, meetings- trying again.

August252015

The only time I quit drinking was when I quit- 407 days ago. Like Dee, I am one of those who went cold turkey. I was just DONE.

For me, to drink is to die. Not spontaneously combust at the first drink, not a day or week or maybe a couple months later...but sooner rather than later, and certainly.

I would not trade the point of desperation I reached for anything. I will never drink again, because I want to live.

2ndhandrose

my first time living in sobriety lasted 6 years; as soon as alcohol passed my lips, it started a relapse that lasted for 22 ish years.

I have been sober this time for 2 years and 3 months. I will not pick up a drink again. I refuse to jeopardize my sobriety.

Tommyh

I just got sick of drinking and quit and went to AA.I have been sober since 8-6-88 and not one drop of booze in any form or any drugs

Life is much better
if i can make it,anyone can