View Poll Results: Did you stop drinking all at once, or did you "fade out" over time?
I quit from progressive drinking in short time (e.g. detox & Therapy, cold turkey)
61
80.26%
I first substantially leveled down my drinking down over time (e.g. months) before I quit?
15
19.74%
Voters: 76. You may not vote on this poll
Dis you quit "all at once" or did you reduce your drinking over time before quitting
Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: northern michigan. not the U.P.
Posts: 15,281
Originally Posted by ThomPom 
My story is quite different, I reduced my drinking over 18 month before quitting altogether. By reducing I am talking about going from one bottle of liquor to 1 beer a day.
could you elaborate on this? how much did you reduce daily?
Member
Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 129
I just stopped. For me, moderation essentially boiled down to a confidence trick. I’d try and persuade myself that I could drink less, manage my drinking, whatever, then drink more than ever after whatever period I’d moderated for, because, well, I can moderate, I’ve showed it!
Hahaaaa! As if the word moderate (adjective or verb) could ever be applied to my constant and reflexive heavy drinking with occasional short breaks, with me all the while obsessed with alcohol. It was front and center of everything.
Hahaaaa! As if the word moderate (adjective or verb) could ever be applied to my constant and reflexive heavy drinking with occasional short breaks, with me all the while obsessed with alcohol. It was front and center of everything.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Europe
Posts: 116
Originally Posted by tomsteve
18 months to go from a bottle to one beer a day?
could you elaborate on this? how much did you reduce daily?
could you elaborate on this? how much did you reduce daily?
I was just too weak to quit all at once. I was an emotional day-to-day drinker. So I had no choice but to reduce it gradually. It was hard work, while a lot trial and error. Still, I employed various mental techniques on my drinking bahaviour, for instance stuff taken from NLP. so I gained more and more control over my behavior, but not over the addiction itself. I am not bodily addicted, so I could make it work, but which is also why this way is not for every type of alcoholic (and type of person).
So, this was in no way about "moderation", because moderation requires a different mindset, it was I about "I get my ass out there and reduce it this week compared to last week a litlle,". Week by week over 1,5 years.
The advantege is, that even I do have a slip, for instance 3 days on last christmas, I can keep quantities in range while drinking and then come back quickly getting sober again, because I learned techniques to apply that work for me.
But again, this is about getting sober, not about moderation.
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