Fusion

I’m glad you didn’t drink, Sohard. I hit the 18 month sober mark a week ago, with previously almost non-existent AV, since Christmas Eve, when my AV said ‘Yay, it’s christmas carols at the village pub, you haven’t drank in ages, you’re over addiction now and can resume normal drinking, mulled wine, hot toddy’s’. What a joker my AV is!

So at 18 months it piped up again ‘Wow, I’m awesome, I’ve achieved 18 months, I’ve only achieved 11 days previously in over twenty years.....let’s celebrate and drink’. I view it as pre-programming and it has a definite extinction curve. Twice it reared it’s head between Christmas and 18 months, I just ignore it. In the early days, I found the more attention you give it, the more real the cravings feel, ignoring and focusing attention on anything else worked for me.

biminiblue

Extinction curve. I love that phrase.

I am at over four years now and just the other day I was at a spot where I used to start thinking about drinking for the day and that, "beer after this," thought came in my head like it did for years when I was at that place.

It can be a bit annoying, but it has no ability to pick up a glass, so it's a paper tiger.

Sohard

I just LOVE trading everyone's advice and words of encouragement. I'm so appreciative. Thank you.

JJ991

Sohard, don't let your AV talk you into drinking while you're on holiday, it's a sneaky devil. A bit like has already been said, when my AV pipes up saying, "oh a lovely glass of wine tonight?" I say, "nope, I don't drink".
Don't let it trick you into not making 100 days. I actually stopped counting days at that point, sometimes the counting can be counterproductive?
Enjoy your break!

golfreggie

One thing I had to learn for myself is to accept that I am an alcoholic and always will be. I will never be able to drink "like a normal person". I cannot think that one day I will be able to "handle' alcohol. Therefore, I had to see myself as a sober person, and alcohol is no longer a "solution" for anything in my life. And just to clarify, we have a curious mental obsession that tells us this time it'll be different, and we take the first drink. Once we drink, that is when Craving happens. No drink, no craving. BUT, the mental obsession is what we have to learn to deal with. And that is what the steps and the fellowship help us with, recovering from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. If you have read some of my posts I always encourage a face to face sponsor and attendance at meetings for newcomers for sure. Good luck, and as millions of folks in recovery can attest, "it works, if you work it"

anxiousrock

Alcoholic minds are something else, aren't they?
Glad that you came here and posted something here before your AV won!
I ALWAYS use the excuse of having something to do in the morning, but usually I do actually have something planned.

Mac4711

And I guess that’s why it is always suggested to put in plenty of sober time, because in the end that’s what wins the battle. Look at your thought process above and compare it to how frantic you were in the early days. Logic and determination won the day, congrats!
Now you’ll have to do some soul searching and confront the reality of staying sober for good...