ChampionRabbit

I think I got to the stage where I had done that so many times that when I started to think it, a second 'me' voice would chime-in saying:

"Don't even bother; you don't mean it...you do this every day'.

Time2Surrender

Try just saying not today.Do this one day at a time.Works for me.

ChampionRabbit

No; for me it's must be forever.

I don't want to have to think about booze every day for the rest of my life; that's almost as bad as still being a drunk.

Or maybe it's worse?

'Jam Tomorrow'.

Not for me thanks!

eire

I understand where you're coming from Rabbit - I don’t know how many times I said 'this is it, never again!’

For me I know that if I am to have any chance of succeeding long term I'm gonna have to change my life and address the issues that keep me coming back to drink.

That means changing lifestyle and thinking if necessary - whatever it takes.

The morning after is the easiest time to say 'never again'. After that it takes real effort to overcome urges and the pull of ingrained behaviours.

Even as I’m typing I have an urge to drink - but I wont this time because I know the consequences. I don’t know what'll happen in the future but in the meantime I need to work on ways to keep me off drink.

Eire

Dunitall

Hi Rabbit

Eire, my experience might help you too.

I've been in AA since October 2004. From my first meeting, I was prepared to ADMIT that I was powerless over alcohol. However, I had the continual internal dialouge that kept me thinking about picking up a drink.

What worked for me, was steps 2& 3. Having worked those, and still going back to them I don't just admit, but I fully ACCEPT the situation. I AM powerless over alcohol.

This was a big turning point. The step from ADMISSION to ACCEPTANCE. Today I have no urge to drink and am so eternally grateful for my sobriety. I have relative happiness in my life.

Despite all my concerns over relationship issues, business etc. I know that I can handle whatever today throws to me.

This programme works for us if we work it. Not just for staying sober, but in reshaping our attitude to life.

It ain't all bad.

Rich

ChampionRabbit

I'm never sure if it's better to look for reasons (excuses?) that lead you to drink, or maybe face the fact that one just LOVES (is addicted to?) drinking.

Dunno.



If I am (we are?) merely addicts then we can quit.

If we just love drink then we're in long-term trouble since we aren't going to stop loving drink.

If we drink because we're sad/it's thursday/our feet hurt then we can cure ourselves.

I dunno.

For me, AA says: "We love drink! Let's distract ourselves from drink by hanging around other people that love drink and talking about drinking and being drunk."

Which is (in my everso humble opinion) a strange tactic!

Dan

Strange doesn't even begin to describe it, for some people.
I came to a point though, with my alcohol abuse, where I decided it was stranger still to drink to the point of finding myself in those never again situations.
If thinking of myself as an addict, among other things that make up who I am, allows me to wake up sober, then it's well worth the minor annoyance to my ego.
If looking for similarities instead of differences in other people also contributes to remaining sober, then that's what I'll continue doing.
I love drink. I freely admit it. And I'm okay with that.

Time2Surrender

A very common misconception of AA.Have you been in AA long? Or have you been to many AA meetings? AA is simply a fellowship of men and women who have a desire to stop drinking.Its not a bunch of people sitting in a room talking about drinking and being drunks.We share our experience,strength and hope.We give each other support.Its about recovery.And for most people recovery is a life long process.If you can wake up one morning and say "OK,thats it.I will never,ever drink again" and poof,you are cured.You are done forever! Than more power to you.I didnt work like that for me.The answers to the questions you have been asking in this thread come from working the steps.

ChampionRabbit

I don't go to AA anymore because I thought it was a bizarre cult that I wanted no part of.



I guess some people dig it though; different strokes...

Time2Surrender

Its cool.AA isnt for everyone.So,hows your new program working out for you?

Chy

I don't think it's a tactic, for me it was the truth! I loved to drink, I loved to be around people that drank to mask the enormous amounts I drank, and if everyone else was drunk, I was okay to be drunk to. Did I misunderstand?

ChampionRabbit

So far so good...same thing for all of us now isn't it?

BubbaBob

Strange tactic? I dunno...never thought about it because it doesn't matter...what matters is I am sober and happy because of it.

If there were a program that said I had to spend an hour a day standing on my head, sucking my thumb, a finger in my left ear and another in my nose up to the second knuckle, farting in tune with "Yankee Doodle Dandy", and there was evidence from others' expirience that that would help me stay physically, mentally, spiritually, and happily sober, then everyone in the town where I live will have a hell of a time finding beans on the shelves at local stores.

Whatever it takes.

BubbaBob

junem

For me quitting drinking was one challenge but once I quit I had no way of coping with life. Drinking had been a very faulty coping mechanism for me. I go to AA because its 12 steps out line for me a way of oiving in which I can cope. I am not much for the drunk-o-logs that some members enjoy but that is there way of keeping their insanity of drinking fresh in their minds. I don't need to remind myself of how awful it got with my drinking near the end. I don't believe I could ever forget such misery.

ChampionRabbit

Like I said; different strokes...

Time2Surrender

Thats hillarious and a very good reply.I guess they would be short on beans around here too.((((Champion)))) I am glad you are here,no matter which path you choose for your sobriety.Stick around.

Music

When I first got sober, my past was like a festering boil on my butt. Every morning I'd wake up and that boil was the first thing I'd become aware of. Every morning I'd wish it would just go away and not bother me. I'd wish I'd never done some of the things I did and I'd wish I could do something "easier" than go to an AA meeting and talk about taking the 12 steps as a way of dealing with the boil on my butt.

"Forever" is understood I think. Sometimes, taking it "One day at a time" seems like such a slow process but in reality, today is all I have. This hour, this minute it all I'm guaranteed. I need to make the best of that time. Sometimes I'd need to break the time down so I could handle what I needed to handle.

When I first started in AA, I didn't want to work the steps. I was afraid to accept the idea of having to rely on a "power" I'd tried for so many years to deny. It was like sticking a sharp object in my "I". I didn't want to write about my life and then sit down and tell someone about it. I didin't want to admit that there was a problem with "me". I would have settled for just being a victom of this disease. But I'm not a victom. I chose to drink every damn drop I ever drank. Hanging around people and talking about being drunk and drinking was the only way I knew to learn how NOT to do those things. Talking to people who are dealing with the same problems is the way any treatment method works, except for the methods which are designed to play into the mind of egotistical people who still think they can handle it alone. To them I say, good luck.