Feel Like A Relapse Waiting To Happen
Member
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 3,027
Originally Posted by JeffreyAK 
The best tool in my box for times like those was distraction. Anything, just to get my mind off the subject - and not even to reasons why I shouldn't drink, but completely off topic, right now. Leave the room, leave the house, stop the car, take a different route, go to a different store, change the music, read a book or magazine, call someone, clean the house, pet the cat, and can be anything to just stop that whole train of thought and shift your focus onto something else. What I found was, if I did that relentlessly, every time, it got easier and easier to distract myself, and those urges became much more rare and mild. When we spin ourselves up and fixate on drinking, how can I get away with it, just once, etc. etc., we really are setting ourselves up to drink, so we have to break that thought process and shut down those voices in our heads.
The parallels between quitting drinking and that death last week...are uncanny.
Quitting drinking was a death of sorts, for me. The finality of the end of my drinking hit me like that. Moving on with a new life that looked and felt so different than the old one.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2017
Posts: 1,276
I remember my relapse after two years sober being like you described. I obsessed over drinking for months, which became almost unbearable once I found I’d have a weekend where I could drink undisturbed by family, etc. I think part of my mistake was that I didn’t let anyone know how I was feeling. I used to lurk on SR but didn’t post and I also didn’t talk about it with my family or medical professionals (either a counselor or my GP). I definitely need to reach out if I get into that situation again. I have 15 months sobriety this time around.
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