dabears34

Feeling pretty good, and seem to be just forgetting about alcohol. Was out with some friends Saturday night, they were boozing it up very heavily and we ended up going to a bar. I slammed about 5 Diet Cokes and left after an hour or so, partly because I was naseous from the Diet Cokes but mostly because they were all hammered and they were getting very annoying. If I was broasted, I would have been right there with them. But I was sober, and none of them could hold a coherent conversation for more than 10 seconds. I guess you have to be drunk to speak drunk. I cannot (outside of the handful of times over the last month) recall the last time I was dead sober and hanging out with a bunch of drunk people.

During the week has been fine, my power over alcohol seems to grow each day, and as the number of days sober grows, the prouder I feel. I'm actually sort of terrified of that next drink, after reading the relapse stories here, because I fear that's exactly how I will be. It won't just be one night and then right back to sober living the next day. It will be "Well, I already drank last night, it's Sunday, noon, might as well make a bender out of it..." and then be right back where I was, or absolutely hating myself for relapsing, and be in a guilt-ridden lockbox of shame for the next week or so.... and thinking back, it was the guilt and shame that was more painful than the physical effects of a hangover. That's what I don't want back... the crushing shame of it all.

Mary52

Congratulations on your 25 days. I would suggest not going to bars and being around drunk people, tho. Please be careful.

Sweets79

I'm no expert, but I have to agree with Mary...Kudos to you for being able to even stay in the bar that long and just drinking diet cokes...I tried that a few times and it was torture (for me anyway)...and now that it's only been a few days for me without a drink, I definitely couldn't walk into a bar! Hell, I don't even wanna drive past the liquor store.

Believe808

Congratulations on your 25 days, but if you want to keep them and add to them I would advise staying away from People, Places & Things.

Fubarcdn

Congratulations on 25 days. I think the first month is the toughest.
I agree with you on the point that talking to drunks when you are sober is really boring and a total waste of time.
I did the soda at the bar thing a couple of times and now when I walk by the bars I went to I have no desire to go in and converse with the regulars.
Keep at it.

keithj

Or you could keep them by following this simple advice:

"Assuming we are spiritually fit, we can do all sorts of things alcoholics are not supposed to do. People have said we must not go where liquor is served; we must not have it in our homes; we must shun friends who drink; we must avoid moving pictures which show drinking scenes; we must not go into bars; our friends must hide their bottles if we go to their houses; we mustn't think or be reminded about alcohol at all. Our experience shows that this is not necessarily so.

We meet these conditions every day. An alcoholic who cannot meet them, still has an alcoholic mind; there is something the matter with his spiritual status. His only chance for sobriety would be some place like the Greenland Ice Cap, and even there an Eskimo might turn up with a bottle of scotch and ruin everything! Ask any woman who has sent her husband to distant places on the theory he would escape the alcohol problem.

In our belief any scheme of combating alcoholism which proposes to shield the sick man from temptation is doomed to failure. If the alcoholic tries to shield himself he may succeed for a time, but usually winds up with a bigger explosion than ever. We have tried these methods. These attempts to do the impossible have always failed."
AA Big Book, Chapter 7

I still wouldn't recommend hanging out in bars as a matter of habit, but I no longer crave alcohol and being around it, provided I'm spiritually fit, is not a problem. Your choice, though. Maybe avoiding people places and things works despite a lot of experience that claims otherwise.