vulcan30

Hi all,

Something's just occurred to me & wasn't anything to do with drinking or alcoholism. I was searching on ways to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and corporations. Knowing that the solution to do so is to list everything you rely on them for and thinking-up alternatives. Why not do the same with alcohol?

If you currently have a problem with drinking or regularly relapse, or are dry but crave it badly & are miserable, I want you to list EVERYTHING that rely on drinking. Then, for each point, I want you to come up with solutions and alternatives. Brainstorm. Not in one go, do things one-by one.

Some people will have a list longer than others, some people will be relying on alcohol for few things, others will be relying on it for many things. Regardless, once you've identified the things you rely on alcohol for, thinking up alternatives to alcohol is the next step.

I am saying this because forcing yourself not to drink using shear willpower and white-knuckling is not a sustainable solution ('white-knuckle' sobriety isn't sobriety). Willpower might work in the short term (e.g. to avoid a hangover for a job interview, or to be fit for work) but isn't a long term solution.

pattyspaw

I have all kinds of will power; I need a bunch of won't power.

LumenandNyx

Hi,

I think white knuckle sobriety is sobriety. It just might not be recovery. There's a difference.

I also think that you're asking folks to way overthink something they spend a lot of time thinking about already.

The "sustainable solution to problem drinking" is to stop drinking.

Dee74

It’s a little circumlocutious in the retelling, but it’s not far off what I did.
How has this approach been working for you Vulcan?

D

Fusion

Amen. WON'T POWER, that's how I stopped drinking. I won't drink, I won't kick my dog or cat, I won't steal and I won't.....etc for any decisions I make as to what I won't do. No willpower required, when running the won't power brain program, which recognises any thought of a drink as AV, and therefore NOT ME!

Obladi

Ah but, my dear Tats, there is a big WILL in there; you will and do remain true to your integrity when you WON'T do any of those things you list.

I think it's a little more (in some cases a lot more) complex for many folks than you and Lumen have found it to be. I mean, yeah of course the way to not be a drunk is to not drink. But the question for me and I'm sure for many others is (was) how to make that work? I would no more discount your method than I would that of the OP.

Whatever it takes...

O

Fusion

Well, O (Obladi) I agree with your "Whatever it takes" because all it takes is won't power, every time a thought of a drink arises, I choose not to, because I spent years deliberating, researching, attempting to seek a reason for the affliction and a cure outside myself, to no avail.

By using won't power, there's no 'white-knuckling', because I can't crave something I've decided not to do. And I can't speak for Lumen, but I've found this mindset shift to 'won't power' truly liberating. No more digging down into, analysing, extricating the 'reasons' behind a thought of a drink, because that thought is quite simply my brain's conditioning. Over decades I conditioned my brain to suggest the thought of a drink as a solution to an external problem and my reactive internal feelings. The thoughts do not control me, they can be irritating, but nonetheless, dismissed by my won't power.