4.5 days
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 61
4.5 days
Welp, I went 4.5 days with no drinks and yesterday afternoon I decided to have a couple beers which ended up turning into 9 straight hours of drinking. It's panic attack City today. Now I see. The anxiety I felt without the booze was nothing compared to the hangover jitters. I'm booing myself. Thumbs down. Still don't know if I can quit, though. I sure as hell won't be drinking today. I know that!
Member
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 2,258
Well, I can see you don't like how you are feeling today. You will quit when you are ready. Hang in there. Right down how you are feeling today, read it over and over, drink TONS of water and even more water. Next time you go to grab that ONE beer, read that list....
Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,126
In my program, one of the slogans is one is too many, a thousand is not enough.
It's the first beer that would send me on a bender and end my two years of sobriety.
Initial sobriety is a commitment, a fight against the craving, the urge, the thought that hey, I went 4.5 days, a couple of beers won't hurt. I think that's why people who opt for AA find the critical support they need in those first crucial months, the fellowship that gets you over the hump, allows you to chalk up some time from that last drink to the point where you can make the commitment to total abstinence.
And in those first few weeks and months and even years, it's the thought of total abstinence that will throw you again, make you scream you can't do it. And maybe you can't. That's where the fellowship comes in again.
Why not give it a try the next time you have 4.5 days and start thinking a couple of beers won't hurt.
There are other paths. SR is a good place to start, and for many SR is enough alone to help them achieve sobriety. There are other programs too, such as SMART and AVRT.
The point is most of us can't do it alone. The true courage many find impossible to muster at this stage of your recovery is a simple four-letter word: HELP.
Try saying it. The best place I ever screamed that word was in a room full of other recovering and recovered alcoholics.
It's the first beer that would send me on a bender and end my two years of sobriety.
Initial sobriety is a commitment, a fight against the craving, the urge, the thought that hey, I went 4.5 days, a couple of beers won't hurt. I think that's why people who opt for AA find the critical support they need in those first crucial months, the fellowship that gets you over the hump, allows you to chalk up some time from that last drink to the point where you can make the commitment to total abstinence.
And in those first few weeks and months and even years, it's the thought of total abstinence that will throw you again, make you scream you can't do it. And maybe you can't. That's where the fellowship comes in again.
Why not give it a try the next time you have 4.5 days and start thinking a couple of beers won't hurt.
There are other paths. SR is a good place to start, and for many SR is enough alone to help them achieve sobriety. There are other programs too, such as SMART and AVRT.
The point is most of us can't do it alone. The true courage many find impossible to muster at this stage of your recovery is a simple four-letter word: HELP.
Try saying it. The best place I ever screamed that word was in a room full of other recovering and recovered alcoholics.
Guest
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Surrey, UK
Posts: 522
4.5 days is a great start Klia - at least you know that you can get that far and it sounds as though you would like to feel ok without alcohol yet you are not yet convinced you can do it. As everyone says, you can only do it when you want to.
You will get support here though no matter what.
You will get support here though no matter what.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Vancouver BC Canada
Posts: 384
Well Klia , there are other programs besides AA to make it easier like SR makes it easier. SMART , AVRT , RR ... why not try one of those if AA is out of the picture?
Have you talked with your Dr ? There are also medications that may help as well.
I use a bit of all of them myself including AA as I don't view the alternative of drinking as an option any more.
SR is always here and we are pulling for you
Have you talked with your Dr ? There are also medications that may help as well.
I use a bit of all of them myself including AA as I don't view the alternative of drinking as an option any more.
SR is always here and we are pulling for you
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 61
Originally Posted by YVRguy 
Well Klia , there are other programs besides AA to make it easier like SR makes it easier. SMART , AVRT , RR ... why not try one of those if AA is out of the picture?
Have you talked with your Dr ? There are also medications that may help as well.
I use a bit of all of them myself including AA as I don't view the alternative of drinking as an option any more.
SR is always here and we are pulling for you
Have you talked with your Dr ? There are also medications that may help as well.
I use a bit of all of them myself including AA as I don't view the alternative of drinking as an option any more.
SR is always here and we are pulling for you
Self recovered Self discovered
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Toronto Canada
Posts: 5,148
Klia, go to the Secular Connections forum for discussions of alternatives to AA and other 12 Step / faith based recovery models. Just like the other SR forums, you will find a lot of support for you there.
AVRT , my choice, is not meeting based, and I suppose you might call it an online program. You can google AVRT to find the site, and take the crash course online for free. There is a book called The New Cure for Substance Addiction that you can find on Amazon for cheap.
AVRT , my choice, is not meeting based, and I suppose you might call it an online program. You can google AVRT to find the site, and take the crash course online for free. There is a book called The New Cure for Substance Addiction that you can find on Amazon for cheap.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Getting there
Posts: 216
Originally Posted by Klia
Welp, I went 4.5 days with no drinks and yesterday afternoon I decided to have a couple beers which ended up turning into 9 straight hours of drinking. It's panic attack City today. Now I see. The anxiety I felt without the booze was nothing compared to the hangover jitters. I'm booing myself. Thumbs down. Still don't know if I can quit, though. I sure as hell won't be drinking today. I know that!
You can do it...you can quit. Try again...make it to 5 days...and say you are stronger than IT, you are not a SLAVE to alcohol. YOU are more important than a hangover.
Do the Math.
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Orlando, Fl.
Posts: 45
I don't do AA either (but I also don't knock it because I know it has halped many people). Since "Abscense makes the Heart Grow Fonder" with my Alcoholism, I wrote down in graphic detail the horrific suffering I endured during my last Severe Binge and Near Fatal Detox. I even took Photographs of the (substantial) Blood I vomited up to help remind me of what I was in store for if I ever got the bright idea I could make it work this time. When I get an impulse or craving, revisiting that Darkest of Times in the Devil's Triangle is usually enough snap me out of the Fantasy Fairy Tale my Alcoholic Brain is falsley promising me.
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