Question to non-drinkers...
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Vienna, VA
Posts: 8
Question to non-drinkers...
I'm 34, and I like to drink. I also like to smoke. My Dad eventually quit smoking when he was 40, and tells me he does not miss it, and he has no urge to light up. He does continue to drink though.
I am curious to hear from those who have lost the urge to drink....not just those who quit and always want a drink, rather those who don't even have the desire to drink. Tell me about your moments when it was clear, and how you feel now. I have a good friend who never touches the stuff....not because he has a problem with it, but he just never had the desire. Wouldn't that be nice!
I am curious to hear from those who have lost the urge to drink....not just those who quit and always want a drink, rather those who don't even have the desire to drink. Tell me about your moments when it was clear, and how you feel now. I have a good friend who never touches the stuff....not because he has a problem with it, but he just never had the desire. Wouldn't that be nice!
Member
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 12,136
Hi Seabass,
I just came from a meeting where we were talking about this, and I shared that I finally, no longer, crave a drink. I usually drank in response to some emotional trigger, but when my feelings overwhelm me today, I know what I NEED to do, and drinking isn't on the list. I used to be absolutely obsessed with the stuff - I can't possibly describe in words how freeing it is to have finally had the obsession lifted.
I'm glad you're here, Seabass. Please keep posting.
Rowan
I just came from a meeting where we were talking about this, and I shared that I finally, no longer, crave a drink. I usually drank in response to some emotional trigger, but when my feelings overwhelm me today, I know what I NEED to do, and drinking isn't on the list. I used to be absolutely obsessed with the stuff - I can't possibly describe in words how freeing it is to have finally had the obsession lifted.
I'm glad you're here, Seabass. Please keep posting.
Rowan
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Hiya Seabass!
When I quit drinking in 2002, my cravings were pretty strong for about the first month. I made sure I filled my time by doing other things, rather than drinking. I read a lot of the Big Book. I went to a LOT of meetings. The strong urges went away shortly after I reached 90 days of sobriety. I realized I didn't need to drink. I wanted to, but I chose not to.
I didn't quit smoking until 2005. That was kinda tough at first. Sometimes I had to literally "beat the cravings off with a pointed stick".
I do have some days where I think about having a drink, and quickly correct my thinking. To me, all it would take is one drink, and I'll be right back where I left off.
When I quit drinking in 2002, my cravings were pretty strong for about the first month. I made sure I filled my time by doing other things, rather than drinking. I read a lot of the Big Book. I went to a LOT of meetings. The strong urges went away shortly after I reached 90 days of sobriety. I realized I didn't need to drink. I wanted to, but I chose not to.
I didn't quit smoking until 2005. That was kinda tough at first. Sometimes I had to literally "beat the cravings off with a pointed stick".
I do have some days where I think about having a drink, and quickly correct my thinking. To me, all it would take is one drink, and I'll be right back where I left off.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 2,126
Hey There ---
There's a great passage, in the BigBook, that I luv, and I think it's perfect for your question here. It's located on pages 84/85...sort of between steps 10 & 11.....:
"...And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone--even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have re-turned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality--safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep
in fit spiritual condition..."
I've heard that Dr. Bob suffered from urges from time to time till the time he 'passed.' I often wonder if perhaps there was something in his working of the Program that might have been a wee bit off..........? ..... just (a thought) one of my many opinions eh..... (o:
For me, this paragraph perfectly fits me, however it didn't take as long as between steps 10 & 11. I believe it was rather early in my recovery. I was one of those rare ole birds (some may say arrogant or pompous or self-righteous).....I never saw a problem with saying, "Ok, I'll never drink/use again." I found the phrases 'Just For Today' and just 'One Day At A Time' to be too limiting for me.....regardless of what others said of/to me.....especially that I was just a relapse waiting to happen. Now that's one of the (what I like to call)....the negatives of AA/NA. I put that in with such things as 'meeting makers make it' (presuming that w/o meetings a person can neither attain nor retain sobriety/recovery); 'missing 7 days of meetings makes one weak;' 'if you do this (or go there), you'll wind up going back out;' 'if you don't do this, you'll end up going back out;' some folks addition to positive statements.....'YET;' (I have never, do not, and will never do 'yets'....lol) and my favorite of favorites (especially for this little corner of the Bible-belt) 'get God or get drunk' (and of course it was the God of their understanding.....lol..... HAH
Oh well....enough of all this......waaaaaaaaay TMI.....I did want you to know that the urges can and do leave.....I believe for me they left when I stopped totally focusing on alcohol/drugs, stopped totally focusing on recovery (to the exclusion of just about everything else)..........and got back to LIFE, and..........whoops.....those urges were GONE!!!! (o:
Soooooooo........workit.......it works! (o:
NoelleR
DOS: 6/23/86
P.S. just FYI, all those folks who called me 'a relapse waiting to happen.....' Well, some of them eventually made it back..............Yup, I'm still arrogant, etc. and it still works for me.....lol
There's a great passage, in the BigBook, that I luv, and I think it's perfect for your question here. It's located on pages 84/85...sort of between steps 10 & 11.....:
"...And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone--even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have re-turned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality--safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep
in fit spiritual condition..."
I've heard that Dr. Bob suffered from urges from time to time till the time he 'passed.' I often wonder if perhaps there was something in his working of the Program that might have been a wee bit off..........? ..... just (a thought) one of my many opinions eh..... (o:
For me, this paragraph perfectly fits me, however it didn't take as long as between steps 10 & 11. I believe it was rather early in my recovery. I was one of those rare ole birds (some may say arrogant or pompous or self-righteous).....I never saw a problem with saying, "Ok, I'll never drink/use again." I found the phrases 'Just For Today' and just 'One Day At A Time' to be too limiting for me.....regardless of what others said of/to me.....especially that I was just a relapse waiting to happen. Now that's one of the (what I like to call)....the negatives of AA/NA. I put that in with such things as 'meeting makers make it' (presuming that w/o meetings a person can neither attain nor retain sobriety/recovery); 'missing 7 days of meetings makes one weak;' 'if you do this (or go there), you'll wind up going back out;' 'if you don't do this, you'll end up going back out;' some folks addition to positive statements.....'YET;' (I have never, do not, and will never do 'yets'....lol) and my favorite of favorites (especially for this little corner of the Bible-belt) 'get God or get drunk' (and of course it was the God of their understanding.....lol..... HAH
Oh well....enough of all this......waaaaaaaaay TMI.....I did want you to know that the urges can and do leave.....I believe for me they left when I stopped totally focusing on alcohol/drugs, stopped totally focusing on recovery (to the exclusion of just about everything else)..........and got back to LIFE, and..........whoops.....those urges were GONE!!!! (o:
Soooooooo........workit.......it works! (o:
NoelleR
DOS: 6/23/86
P.S. just FYI, all those folks who called me 'a relapse waiting to happen.....' Well, some of them eventually made it back..............Yup, I'm still arrogant, etc. and it still works for me.....lol
Last edited by NoelleR; 04-29-2007 at 09:40 PM.
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Murrieta, Ca
Posts: 2,683
The obsession is lifted through working the 12 steps of AA.
I rarely think of drinking anymore, and I know quite a few that say they don't think about it for months or YEARS at a time.
For me, it happened right around the time I took my 3rd step. This was maybe 60 days in, but admittedly I worked the steps aggressively. (Sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly....)
I rarely think of drinking anymore, and I know quite a few that say they don't think about it for months or YEARS at a time.
For me, it happened right around the time I took my 3rd step. This was maybe 60 days in, but admittedly I worked the steps aggressively. (Sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly....)
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