vulcan30

Hi all,

I hate to announce that my hydraulic willpower buckled and bent like matchwood last night; I caved. Had a bit of a slip. The boredom got too much last night. The pressure built up to breaking point

I don't know how people manage to cope with being cooped in the house day in, day out without being seduced.

Look at the sort of FORCE that is needed to resist those urges
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUxipgivzlo

No human can exert this level of force, that's the sort of brute force that's needed to resist urges, I wish I was a machine, I wish I didn't have such powerful urges. How do you do it? You must all be super ******* human.

ChloeRose63

I hear you loud and clear! I bounce off the walls being home all day...but, I refuse to give into my AV. I find something to do even though it is mundane. I just don't want to drink.

fini

vulcan, if you keep telling yourself it takes something superhuman to find a way to do this, then clearly either all of us who are doing this are something other than human, and if that's not the case, then there is no chance for you.

do you see how you are setting yourself up with these words?
how you're telling yourself that YOUR urges are so special that an ordinary human just can't get through them and that therefore this is not doable for you?

one of the more crappy ways i used to motivate myself to hang in there or to try again was to tell myself if tens of thousands of a##holes can do this, so can i!

have you checked out urge surfing? relaxation stuff? sounds like you have time to google all kinds of helpful techniques you could find just from reading all over SR and then implement them....

why are you cooped up in the house all day? and if so, how do you get the booze? sorry, maybe you wrote about it somewhere earlier and i missed it.

NYCDoglvr

Going to meetings was a lifesaver for me, I couldn't have gotten sober on my own. Suggest finding activities outside your home: don't think we can replace drinking with nothing.

tomsteve

a log splitter doesnt become a log splitter on its own. it requires humans to build it. it was a human that had to discover hydraulic power. it was a human that had to discover the internal combustion engine. it was a human that had to discover steel and how to manufacure it.it was a human that had to discover how to combine them all together to make a log splitter.
even after being built, a log splitter does nothing but sit there on its own. it need a human to start it.it needs a human to operate it-notice, the log splitter isnt doing the work on its own.
machines have no feelings. no emotions.

nope, we arent super human. we are humans that got sick and tired of being sick and tired.
then we decided we wanted to stop drinking.
then became willing to go to any length for victory over alcohol.
then got into action

ScottFromWI

I would suggest that you succumbed to alcoholism, not boredom. And as others have mentioned, if you view it as a fight that you have to win with willpower alone, you will always lose - every single time.

As far as how people deal with "being cooped up in the house day in/day out" - they get out of the house so they aren't cooped up day in day out. Most things that most people do outside their homes do not involve drinking.

The other way people deal with life in general without drinking is to build a community of support around them and interact with that community. You can even do that virtually like right here on SR. You can also do it through meetings, counseling, etc locally. But the bottom line is that if you just sit there and wait for things to get better, they probably won't.

SoberCAH

I came to understand that no human power could relieve me from the painful consequences of my alcoholism.

My power is higher - perhaps not superhuman, but, nonetheless, higher.

And effective.

For me, AA and God have proven to be the solutions to my chronic alcoholism.

I hope that you approach your dilemma (lack of power for me) with an open mind.

If you do, I think you may find the power you need to get and stay sober.

Thank you for sharing your alcoholic travails, amigo.

Most of us have walked a similar path.

paulokes

It really isn't about being superhuman or disciplined for me. Quite the opposite. There was quite a bit of pride swallowing for me to admit I had a problem with alcohol that I couldn't solve. The hard part was reaching out for help instead of trying to fight it on my own

What can you do differently next time...knowing that sitting on your own fighting boredom and the urge to drink didn't work?

P

LadyBlue0527

No superhuman powers necessary. For me it was AA and the fact there will NEVER be a moment in my life where my signature line won't be the truth. Ever.

dwtbd

I'm pretty good at not doing things
When I made up my mind that I didn't want to be drunk ever again , drinking went into the not doing category, which like I said is really easy for me( ask my wife), and then I realized how strong my won'tpower(hattip Tatsy) is, I have a strong tendancy toward wont and not doing , willpower sounds too hard

Gottalife

Lack of power was my dilemma. The solution was to find a greater power by which to live. That is what the AA program is about. From a powerless hopeless individual, I now have all the power I need to live happily and successfully. Human power was inadequate.

Dee74

I think you're way underestimating yourself and way over estimating the power of desire, Vulcan

I live alone - I sometimes still get bored - but I never drink.

You need to break that connection that you've made that drinking solves boredom- It doesn't sound like you're even questioning it....instead you're making it into a monolith..

I think everyone needs a support network, and they need to be willing to use that network when times get hard.

I think a recovery plan is a great idea too - you can cover all the eventualities (like being bored) and have alternative strategies in place.

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...very-plan.html

D

Mountainmanbob

John MacArthur has some good teachings on YouTube possibly you would want to check some out?
M-Bob

JeffreyAK

That never worked for me, powering through and telling myself I wouldn't drink - that just kept me fixated on the fact that I wasn't drinking. What worked instead for me was not even fighting, and just disengaging instead. No brute force required duck and dodge. That meant, never letting myself stew at home bored and thinking about drinking, I'd do something instead - even cleaning house is a good distraction. If I felt a craving, I'd distract myself with anything at all until it went away, and they always do go away. You can go to a meeting, or read a book, there are thousands of things you can do that are better for your sobriety than sitting around stewing and letting those cravings build.

waynetheking

My advice is to get into action. Especially in the early stages of sobriety. You need to stay busy. Forget about willpower. Just stay busy. Take action. Massive amounts of action is needed in dealing with alcoholism. Get so busy that you don't have time to be the log. It's simple to do. Plan and take action.

Misc72

Why do you have to be cooped up? Get out, get involved, exercise, do something stupid, do something fun... I went to the Rocky Horror last Friday night and a rock concert on Sunday night... It was a total blast! You don't have to be cooped up friend...

FBL

Recovery involves finding other (hopefully productive) things to fill the time. After all, most of us spent countless hours either drinking or planning the next drunk. Did you have any interests or hobbies before you became an alcoholic? If not, it's time to start exploring. If you find something, you'll most likely find that "boredom" is no longer in your vocabulary!