"Think the drink through"
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: San Francisco suburbs
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"Think the drink through"
Something I read in "Sober for Good". A good process to put yourself through if you're even considering having a drink, is to think the drink through. For me it would go something like this:
Mmmmm. A glass of chilled chardonnay sure would taste good. That first sip would be so yummy. But before long I'd have drunk the whole glass, so let's have another. That second glass wasn't quite as good. Not as tastey, not as delicious. Hmmmm getting a little drunk now, so let's just have a third, what the hell? This one just doesn't taste that good, and I'm getting tired of it. Well now I'm sloppy drunk so crap, half a glass left in this bottle, just finish it off. The next morning---- my head hurts, I feel like crap, my stomach is upset, I slept terribly, why did I do that? Why am I such a loser?!
Thinking through that scenario will keep me from the first drink.
Just wanted to share!
Mmmmm. A glass of chilled chardonnay sure would taste good. That first sip would be so yummy. But before long I'd have drunk the whole glass, so let's have another. That second glass wasn't quite as good. Not as tastey, not as delicious. Hmmmm getting a little drunk now, so let's just have a third, what the hell? This one just doesn't taste that good, and I'm getting tired of it. Well now I'm sloppy drunk so crap, half a glass left in this bottle, just finish it off. The next morning---- my head hurts, I feel like crap, my stomach is upset, I slept terribly, why did I do that? Why am I such a loser?!
Thinking through that scenario will keep me from the first drink.
Just wanted to share!
.
Life the gift of recovery!
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Home is where the heart is
Posts: 7,061
I have found that when my alcoholic brain starts to get any notion that I may be able to "have just one" all I need to do to "think the drink through" is to read page 151 of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. It reminds me what it was like and why I know I can not drink even "just one". Even if one does not utilize the program of A.A. I believe the passage is a great reminder tool. Hope you find it useful too.
A vision for you
For most normal folks, drinking means conviviality, companionship, and colorful imagination. It means release from care, boredom, and worry. It is joyous intimacy with friends, and a feeling that life is good. But not so with us in those last days of heavy drinking. The old pleasures were gone. They were but memories. Never could we recapture the great moments of the past. There was an inistent yearning to enjoy life as we once did and a heartbreaking obsession that some new miracle of control would enable us to do it. There was always one more attempt---and one more failure.
The less people tolerated us, the more we withdrew from society, from life itself. As we became subjects fo King Alcohol, shivering denizens of his mad realm, the chilling vapor that is loneliness settled down. It thickened, ever becoming blacker. Some of us sought out sordid places, hoping to find understanding companionship and approval. Momentarily we did---then would come oblivion and the awful awakening to face the hideous Four Horsemen--Terror, Bewilderment, Frustration, Despair. Unhappy drinkers who read this page will understand!
For most normal folks, drinking means conviviality, companionship, and colorful imagination. It means release from care, boredom, and worry. It is joyous intimacy with friends, and a feeling that life is good. But not so with us in those last days of heavy drinking. The old pleasures were gone. They were but memories. Never could we recapture the great moments of the past. There was an inistent yearning to enjoy life as we once did and a heartbreaking obsession that some new miracle of control would enable us to do it. There was always one more attempt---and one more failure.
The less people tolerated us, the more we withdrew from society, from life itself. As we became subjects fo King Alcohol, shivering denizens of his mad realm, the chilling vapor that is loneliness settled down. It thickened, ever becoming blacker. Some of us sought out sordid places, hoping to find understanding companionship and approval. Momentarily we did---then would come oblivion and the awful awakening to face the hideous Four Horsemen--Terror, Bewilderment, Frustration, Despair. Unhappy drinkers who read this page will understand!
Life the gift of recovery!
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Home is where the heart is
Posts: 7,061
Originally Posted by jcham5150 
I'm sorry but unless I misunderstood you there is nothing about thinking the drink through as a sugestion to staying sober on page 151 or any other page for that matter. Having morbid thoughts (fear) about drinking does in fact work for a time. Ask the person just released from prison, he doesnt want to go back but weeks later after a spree he is sitting behind bars again.
For me thinking a drink through is thinking it through to the bitter end. For me page 151 expresses the bitter end for me. I may start with one drink here and there but I know from my past experience where that one or two leads. It is not long before my head says "well you were able to control and only drink one or two so you don't have a problem with alcohol, so why not have a few more?" Before I know it all control is lost and I am back at page 151. Hope that clarifies my intent.
Life the gift of recovery!
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Home is where the heart is
Posts: 7,061
lol, I would not read it in the middle of a spree for sure but I keep it close for those times when I even have an inkling of a thought that I because I have not drank in a while I might be "able to drink like a normal person" now. I don't have those thoughts as frequently as I did in the first few years of sobriety but I am human and do have the occassional insane thought run between my ears.
Life the gift of recovery!
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Home is where the heart is
Posts: 7,061
That is okay. Beagles are not for everyone. I love my avatar as she reminds me to be relax and treat others the way I would want to be treated. I miss her a lot. I had to put her to sleep at the age of 14 nearly 4 years ago. She had a kind and generous spirit.
Life the gift of recovery!
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Home is where the heart is
Posts: 7,061
It's all good. No sweat. When I am tired I sometimes say things without thinking them through myself....lol I think we all do it at times. Take care and have a good night
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