View Poll Results: What worked to keep you sober for 6+ months
AVRT
16
19.05%
SMART
5
5.95%
AA
41
48.81%
Others
41
48.81%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 84. You may not vote on this poll
Sobriety Methods Poll
Sobriety Methods Poll
There are many methods and combinations of methods to sobriety but at the end of the day it comes down to what works. For those who have been sober 6+ months what method(s) did you find had the most impact on keeping you sober.
I would be interested if you selected other what other things have you used if you have been successful for 6+ months Rehab is one I should have listed but there are many others
I saw an addictions specialist (psychologist) 2x a week for 6 months, and did all the "work" he asked me to. (He suggested books, meditation, we worked on guided relaxation, family of origin issues discussion/resolution, and so on).
Member
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 136
I was just going solo, but had never heard of AVRT. I could relate to it, it's how I quit smoking--separate feelings of addiction from yourself, so that mentally you can stand back and watch cravings or excuses to relapse, rather than allowing those feelings to be part of you or something that needs to be resisted.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: NJ
Posts: 20,458
I find something to be grateful for every day, even if it is a super-craptastic day, at the end of it, i'm sober and tomorrow will be better.
I log onto SR and other forums almost every day and connect with others...I'm happy doing normal chores, i'm thrilled that the dark cloud of depression lifted. I exercise almost every day. And I try to do one unexpected nice thing for someone else.
when i give it comes back 10fold.
I log onto SR and other forums almost every day and connect with others...I'm happy doing normal chores, i'm thrilled that the dark cloud of depression lifted. I exercise almost every day. And I try to do one unexpected nice thing for someone else.
when i give it comes back 10fold.
Drinking for me was always controlled. Every day, after work, 6 -12 beers, a half a box of wine or 7 to 10 drinks of liquor. I woke up every day feeling like garbage, but it was what I was used to. By 2PM, I was looking forward to going home to have my private happy hourS again.
One night after dinner at an uncles place, driving home down a dark country road, I was forced to take action to avoid a collision and ended up rolling my car about 5 times.
I was beat up, but fine and it didn't matter. What mattered was, my 14 year old boy and 17 daughter were with me. Thank God, everyone was unscratched bu me. At the hospital a police officer came in and asked to do a blood test. I agreed. I did not feel drunk and family members who came to the hospital said I seemed sober and totally coherent. But I could not help blame alcohol. It didn't cause the accident, but it didn't help. My kids could have been flung from the car and killed. The reality of my actions and the destruction was too much. I gave up drinking that night.
Guilt, shame and disappointment overwhelmed me. I thanked my God for sparing my children and also me, and I surrendered alcohol forever.
I bought 24 packs of bottled water and and stocked the fridge. From that night on, I am rarely without a bottle of water. In fact, as I type this, there's a bottle on my desk right now.
I also bought 12 packs of cheap brand lemon lime soda.
My manual and oral habit of sipping was met. I ate a more munchies, trail mix, peanuts, oatmeal cookies, fig newtons, graham crackers... just all sorts of munchies.
I met with a counselor for the DUI who really didn't do any good. My mind was made up. It didn't matter what anyone had to offer. My life was now water and soda... cleansing. The end.
My DUI was in August 2010. I am free of the addiction to alcohol because I do not drink. That's all there is to it. I don't drink. Doesn't have to be over complicated. Doesn't have to be made into a big drama. It's just a matter of choosing to not be any part of drinking alcohol. Replace booze with water and soda.
I don't go to bars, but have been around drinkers on a million occasions. No big deal. It's not a part of my life.
Over two years now and when I think of it, I think of feeling sick to my stomach, a taste that was sickly sweet that caused me to do foolish things and wake up wanting to puke until noon every day.
I actually logged on to leave Sober Recovery. I joined to help others, not myslef. I made my decision to part ways with alcohol that one night where I got my dui, destroyed my car and most of all, risked my childrens lives.
You just have to finish up your booze, get good and sick of it and decide to part ways with it forever.
One night after dinner at an uncles place, driving home down a dark country road, I was forced to take action to avoid a collision and ended up rolling my car about 5 times.
I was beat up, but fine and it didn't matter. What mattered was, my 14 year old boy and 17 daughter were with me. Thank God, everyone was unscratched bu me. At the hospital a police officer came in and asked to do a blood test. I agreed. I did not feel drunk and family members who came to the hospital said I seemed sober and totally coherent. But I could not help blame alcohol. It didn't cause the accident, but it didn't help. My kids could have been flung from the car and killed. The reality of my actions and the destruction was too much. I gave up drinking that night.
Guilt, shame and disappointment overwhelmed me. I thanked my God for sparing my children and also me, and I surrendered alcohol forever.
I bought 24 packs of bottled water and and stocked the fridge. From that night on, I am rarely without a bottle of water. In fact, as I type this, there's a bottle on my desk right now.
I also bought 12 packs of cheap brand lemon lime soda.
My manual and oral habit of sipping was met. I ate a more munchies, trail mix, peanuts, oatmeal cookies, fig newtons, graham crackers... just all sorts of munchies.
I met with a counselor for the DUI who really didn't do any good. My mind was made up. It didn't matter what anyone had to offer. My life was now water and soda... cleansing. The end.
My DUI was in August 2010. I am free of the addiction to alcohol because I do not drink. That's all there is to it. I don't drink. Doesn't have to be over complicated. Doesn't have to be made into a big drama. It's just a matter of choosing to not be any part of drinking alcohol. Replace booze with water and soda.
I don't go to bars, but have been around drinkers on a million occasions. No big deal. It's not a part of my life.
Over two years now and when I think of it, I think of feeling sick to my stomach, a taste that was sickly sweet that caused me to do foolish things and wake up wanting to puke until noon every day.
I actually logged on to leave Sober Recovery. I joined to help others, not myslef. I made my decision to part ways with alcohol that one night where I got my dui, destroyed my car and most of all, risked my childrens lives.
You just have to finish up your booze, get good and sick of it and decide to part ways with it forever.
ISPY I congratulate you on your success but it has been my experience that very few, myself included that had enough will power to quit forever. For me there is no possible way I could have done it on my own.
I just decided to quit drinking and did so. I attended an AA meeting after a few weeks sober and for a variety of reasons decided it was not a good fit for me. I make a point of avoiding any kind of temptation and try to have alternatives to alcohol around me all of the time; 2 liter bottles of club soda mainly. I work out daily and am pretty much a vegetarian. I believe that good nutrition is an important factor in eliminating cravings for alcohol so that is one of my foci. Beyond the above, I just try very hard, and fairly successfully, to not think about drinking or alcohol. I am sure that my approach is not for everyone but it works for me and that is all that really matters.
Powerless over Alcohol
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Trudging the Road to Happy Destiny!
Posts: 4,018
Member
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Orillia, Ont., Canada
Posts: 165
The single biggest factor for me which you did not offer as an option (rightfully so, I guess, as it is not a program) is family, mostly by far my wife and daughter. And I too would list graditude, is much more fun to count blesssings than damn troubles (even for an agnostic like me ) Rick
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