August252015

All of us need some kind of external-to-ourselves support. It not only helps you learn that stuff like depression is, indeed, often part of detox, recovery and sober life....and that "white knuckling" it is just not the way you've gotta do it. And it is much easier with others who get it helping you.

ljc267

I don't know if this will be helpful or not, but to keep the cravings at bay I didn't consider or think about drinking. What I mean is whenever I had a thought about alcohol I immediately did something that would take my mind away from that thought. Dwelling on drinking only exacerbates the cravings.

I would not allow the thought of any alcohol or drinking to enter my thoughts. I'm not sure if I'm explaining it correctly, but after you're initial withdrawal the cravings are almost completely psychological. If you can occupy your mind with other thoughts the cravings diminish. If you never consider drinking you won't drink.

I know this is a bit of a ramble but I hope it helps.

Gottalife

I think something similar happened with me. There was really no difference in thinking about not drinking, or thinking about drinking. Its all about drinking either way.

I turned my attention to other things needed to recover. It seems strange looking back but from the moment I began a specific course of action toward finding my higher power, the thought of drinking never entered my head. I didn't even realize this had happened until my sponsor called to tell me I was 3 months sober. Wow - I had never been able to mage that before.

I see Intro that you don't do meetings. That's fine, quite a few problem drinkers succeed just by making up their minds to knock it off. Another bunch seem to succeed just by doing lots of meetings and nothing else, and that's cool too.

Its just that neither of those options worked for me. I needed to be ready to quit for good, willing to attend some meetings, and also actively work a program of recovery. The three things combined did the trick.

ljc267

For me I just got tired of being tired. I'm lucky and unlucky that I'm an all or nothing kind of guy. When I was drinking I was all in. Drank everyday and got drunk everyday. When I finally got fed up with it. I was 100% out. It was rough but I wasn't going back. I refused to consider any other alternative, so that worked for me.

Now that I just typed the above, I think it is important to chose a recover plan that fits your personality type. Some can do it on there own, while others need the comradery that AA provides, while others need a higher power.