Bonnie1

Hello Everyone.
I was doing really well until a few days before Christmas, then after a horrible stressful day I picked up a drink! I know, I know I should have done something differently, anything apart from drinking, but it happened.
Now I am back on Day One.
How do you great people on here cope with Day One.
I'm stressing already, and my drinking is done in the evening not mid-day.
I was sober for a good few months, so I know I can deal with it, but the Day One is so difficult.

LDT

For me, the only way I could deal with day one was to keep so BUSY all day long, I did not think about day one. Distraction works for me...I'm not a big "day counter", so the only thing I focused on was not drinking that day.... And then the next..... And.....pretty soon I had a bunch of days. If you are having physical withdrawals, call your doc. If not...get "busy"

Be Well.

Garen

I wouldn't think about it as day one. You were sober for a couple of months and you slipped once. You have a few months of experience being sober already. Don't look at it as slipping up once and going back to square one each time... more like six steps ahead and then one step back, maybe as long as you maintain your commitment to quitting. You have shown yourself that you can do it... so do it again.

Paddler

Both of my parents were morbidly obese before having gastric bypass. It helped them tremendously. I looked at it as a rehab they weren't capable of doing for themselves...

After a year my dad had lost his weight down to 250 lbs. He hadn't weighed that since college. He called and said he had really screwed up. I said "what do you mean, dad?"

He explained that on the way home from work (where he has been a talk show host on the radio for years and years... stationary... behind a microphone) stopped at his favorite old nemesis and ordered a sackful of Krystals. He ate them all, went home, and apparently **** his brains out an hour later.

I told him... "Dad, you recognized your problem and the fact you needed help. You committed to the surgery despite your fears. You committed to the lifestyle changes after the surgery. For a year you have done amazing and surpassed your goals. You are a different person... and you screwed up. Learn from that time on the toilet and use it as a reminder of the garbage you used to put into your stomach, where it got you, and where you have come from..."

And go easy on the Krystals from now on...

Alcoholism is no different in my opinion. We all have our vices. Don't beat yourself up, eat healthy stuff and take vitamins to get your health back to where it was, rest, and beat your last string of months by an additional month this go around....

Thank you for inspiring me with your lengthy sobriety.

God Bless.

Weasel1966

Bonnie.... I have more fear drinking now than I do not drinking.

On all of my day ones it was not that way. I was afraid of Not drinking more.

Everything does not collapse because you spent some days drinking inbetween the days you spent sober. You have the same strength today to stay sober you did when you were staying sober.

You really do have the same strength right now. The fact you have before is actual proof.

Don't count days right now... Maybe hours is easier and more encouraging. Better to have 24 of something than 1 of something else kind of logic.

You can do this and will for longer than a day again. If I can you can!

K

MIRecovery

I went to an AA meeting

mfanch

Nothing changes if nothing changes.

I hope you come up with a plan.

I know for me, who was off and on drunk/high for 20 years, until I did something different, I was ALWAYS going to get the same result....back to the needle or bottle.

I knew I could quit, but I could not STAY quit on my own. I needed help. AA, AVRT, and CBT helped me tremendously. Just something to consider...

Delilah1

I agree with Garen, focus on all of the things that helped you stay sober all of those months.

Make a plan for tonight do you don't think about drinking. let us k ow how you are doing.

duane1

Get a few months of sobriety in you and you will realize that the true source of most of your stress was alcohol.

Lost3000

I think you just really really really need to want to quit. Otherwise, all of these attempts are just that. Maybe you aren't ready to quit, maybe you aren't done drinking. It's sad, because I worry that your "bottom" will be permanent. When you could have avoided it by just staying stopped. Good luck to you.

My drinking was done in the evenings only. How did I cope with Day One? I didn't allow myself to think about it. I made plans, for the entire first week. I booked myself with all kinds of stuff, anything, just to avoid the dreaded 5 o'clock hour. I also joined AA on day 2, which turned out to be my saving grace.

soberclover

You used the word "stress" a few times. I would work on identifying ways to better cope with your stress. When I drank my stress didn't disappear. The alcohol just made it temporarily numb. In fact drinking made my stress a lot worse. Whatever you did that lead you to pick up, avoid this time around. I spent/spend tough evenings at home and make a point to not go out because it would be too easy for me to wind up in a bar or at a liquor store. Read, watch TV, paint a wall, do laundry, scrub the floor with a toothbrush....anything that will keep you busy!

2granddaughters

Bonnie, you've been around here for a while. Have you given AA a real good shot?

All the best.

Bob R

Pamel

Bonnie, I think I will always be on "day 1". Something large is missing from my life and I am always trying to fill it with alcohol, instead of changing my life.

I am hanging out over on a thread: http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...ml#post3786311
which I am really thinking of as the first week of sobriety.

Day 2 for me.... How could I have done so many years and then be such a fumbling mess?

Bigndfan175

I just don't drink the first 5 min I'm home and then at the 5:01 mark I commit to not having a drink again and do it over and over. Meanwhile I clean the whole house. Its amazing what physical labor does to curb an obsession, plus my wife is loving the de-cluttered clean house

aasharon90

People who are in recovery themselves and
have been educated about addictions, whether
it be drugs or alcohol, taught me the what's,
why's, how's, and anything else related to it,
so that I could learn how to stay sober a day
at a time for as long as I have.

Those councilors gave me the knowledge and
tools to use in my everyday affairs so that I
could stay sober.

Those tools have been very affective to me
and my recovery to allow me to remain sober
for 22 yrs now, beginning with day 1 back in
August 1990. For me, I had no idea I was an
alcoholic because I didnt look like one nor those
around could tell if I was one. I tried to manage
and control my drinking and raise a family with
no one suspecting I had a problem.

Boy, the insanity, craziness I lived with this lie.

After family intervened on me and was sent to
rehab where I stayed for 28 days then a 6 week
outpatiant aftercare program added on, I began
my journey following in the footsteps of others
who learned themselves from others before them
of how to stay sober each day. Whatever worked
for them I did the same to the best of my ability.

Whatever lengths I went to drink, I had to do the
same for staying sober. Even if it was flooding outside,
to drive in swollen streets of water, placing myself,
my car in danger to get to that bar and drink, so was
it to get what I needed to stay sober.

Knowledge is a powerful thing as we often hear. Learn
about your alcoholism and why it affects you the way
it does, then use that knowledge and tools provided
to you to pass each day, just like passing a test, to
stay sober or moving to the next grade and stage in
ur life.

A program of recovery does work because there are
many many folks who have learned to live a happier,
freer life without dependence on alcohol or drugs.

It can be for you too.