Herincyprus

I have done 8 days without it. Alcohol that is. I have been proud to say this, and have posted every day. Tonight I am having a couple of whiskys. I dont understand why I feel so much better now with a few drinks.

My question is, is it possible to abstain from alcohol all week and look forward to a blow out on the weekend, indoors, with no embarrassment. I know the answer will be no, from most, but I would like to know if it is possible for someone to do this? Has it happened to anyone? Can it be done? Surely the anser must be yes, us humans are surely capable of anything, right?

Anna

If you're not an alcoholic, of course you could do that.

If you're an alcoholic, then the answer is 'No', it can't be done. It might work for the first week or 2 or even 3, but before long the obsessive thoughts would take over and the addiction would win.

eJoshua

I don't know, but if you decide to do it why don't you come back and let us know if you feel embarrassed.

If you're looking for a free pass to go have a few drinks, I don't think you're going to find that here. I will tell you though that most people here have tried to go about moderating and failed. The other thing is, if someone was capable of moderating they wouldn't probably be here though.

I wish you the best.

suki44883

Alcoholism has nothing to do with how often you drink or even how much you drink. Binge drinkers can go days, weeks, and sometimes even months between drinks. When they do drink, though, they usually drink until they black out or pass out. A binge can last a few hours or several day or weeks.

Anna is right...if you are an alcoholic, your "weekend only" binges won't stay only on the weekends for long.

sugarbear1

I 'll wait until tomorrow, thanks! Enjoy!

It's always a choice.

Terminally Unique

Perhaps, but those who yearn to drink moderately are usually the ones who are least likely to succeed at it.

Dee74

I tried that for the best part of 20 years herin - it never worked for me.

I thought it must be possible too - I was great guy, very strong, very driven, very stubborn...but I neglected the fact that whenever I drink alcohol, I lose control...

no matter what my intentions are, or how good they may be before I take that first drink, I'll always end up in the same place sooner or later.

If you're the same kind of drinker I am, I really hope it doesn't take you 20 years to accept that, herincyprus...

D

newwings

Three things you said in your post make me think you might just struggle with this.

"I feel much better now with a few drinks"
"Look forward to"
"blowout"

Normal drinkers don't say ANY of those things.

Boleo

I would not say yes or no to this question due to the following;

A. I don't abstain from drinking, I have recovered from the obsession and don't think of it in terms of drinking or not drinking or anything else analogous to abstinence. I simply don't think of it at all.

B. I don't need to blow out anything. I have peace of mind every day of the week.

C. I don't look forward to weekends anymore because I have learned to live in the moment. Work is no longer something I try to escape from.

TGIM
TGIT
TGIW
TGIT
TGIF
TGIS
TGIS

Hevyn

Hi Herincyprus. So you're going to try & use willpower to stay sober all week & drink only on weekends. All I can tell you is, like Dee - I tried that for many years and never once did it work. I always ended up drinking far more than I intended to, with disastrous results. When my plans to moderate failed over & over, I found myself in a very dangerous place.

I remember one Friday night I decided to buy just a bottle of wine. When the wine was gone, I'd go to bed - surely I couldn't get in trouble with just that small amount in the house. I looked at the clock once when the bottle was almost empty - it was 8pm. The next day I woke up around noon. TV was blaring, lights all on, car keys were on the floor. A half-gallon bottle of wine was on the coffee table, nearly empty. I had apparently gone to the liquor store in a black out. So - that's where using willpower takes me.

CaiHong

Good luck with either descision you make hereincyprus. I can so relate to your post, often I would go a week without drinking and feel great and think, this time I will just have a drink ............... then end back on the treadmill.
Please keep posting, it is a good reminder to me and helps me immensely.
I still have these thoughts, though not so often thanks to the help of a program.
All the best
CaiHong

Herincyprus

Good morning all, and thanks for your posts. I understand each and every one of them. Especially the desire to have more than one sets out to drink. Fortunately I did just have a couple last night. The thought was there to go and get more, or go out, but I didn;t. But I know maybe if I had had one more I would have. And thats the danger isn't it. I was lucky last night, I am safe. So back to the bottom of the ladder again for me, here we go again. I guess this climb is going to be a lot harder than I imagined, but climb I will. Have a good day all. And thanks again for the posts, it has really helped, and I do understand each and every one of you.

instant

Moderation was way too hard for me in the medium term. I always ended up back where I did not want to be. My results at moderating were not that good either !!

Dee74

welcome back herincyprus - I think you're back on the right road

D

Herincyprus

I find it all so frustrating. Man can do so many things, fly to the moon and back, replace hearts, invent all manner of great things, but is not capable of moderating drink! I think the first step for me is to try and get my head around this, and accept it, but this is what I am finding so difficult to do today. grrrrrr

Dee74

I struggled with that for a long time - until I drank to the point where I had no choice but to quit...

and then I found to my surprise not only was my life better without alcohol in it, but I was too.

Never underestimate the insidiousness of this addiction...it makes doing something that is actually harmful to us seem not only normal, but desirable...

I may sound like a nut to you, but the day I 'let go' of my desire to continue drinking was the beginning of something wonderful, herincyprus.

I hope you'll come back one day soon and say you agree with me
D

Herincyprus

Thanks Dee.

Charon

Herincyprus,

No need to add my 2 cents. Just wishing you well and the strength to hold fast.

bellakeller

What would be the point of that?