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If I don't stop drinking? I will die. But I Love drinking!

Old 11-17-2013, 03:58 PM
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If I don't stop drinking? I will die. But I Love drinking!

Been knocking back the booze for pretty much 30 years now...Im 50. cant sleep.. nervous most of the time... pint & a half of rum daily habit... Teeth are starting to fall out! bad stomach, you get the point right? I know if I keep up this pace I will die. Most likely with in a year or two. I want to stop. I need to stop. I have to stop... I just have one problem!!! I Love drinking, I do, Love it. How does one stop if you love what you're doing?? Please help? When you get off the booze? Do you change your mind about drinking? Help needed...
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Old 11-17-2013, 04:02 PM
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Well, you need a lot of motivation to stop drinking and begin to recover, so I hope you can shift your perspective and see how harmful drinking is in your life.
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Old 11-17-2013, 04:03 PM
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Originally Posted by goingdownslo View Post
How does one stop if you love what you're doing?? Please help? When you get off the booze? Do you change your mind about drinking? Help needed...
I changed my mind about drinking. But I had to have stopped drinking for a few weeks to get the alcohol out of my system before I could change my mind.
I was where you are....I was going to die if I kept drinking. If I ever drink again, I will probably die from it.
If I can do it, then you can definitely do it.
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Old 11-17-2013, 04:04 PM
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Most people don't want to stop drinking - even at the depths of a severe hangover, they don't want to quit drinking. They simply want the negative consequences to stop, but they want to keep drinking without suffering from it. To keep drinking and avoid the consequences is not possible. On first glance, one option is an impossible wish and the other option is an obvious choice.

The reality of the choices is:
Keep drinking and suffer the consequences; or,
Stop drinking and avoid the negative consequences.

Which do you want?
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Old 11-17-2013, 04:15 PM
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I agree with jazzfish. I'm very early on in sobriety with 18 days and sometimes struggle with that part of me that enjoyed drinking (well, a huge part of me enjoyed it, let's be honest). For me, the last two months of my drinking were complete hell and I felt that my life had finally become unmanageable. Yes, I still enjoyed drinking; however, I was finally faced with certain consequences where I thought "Oh my goodness, I can NOT keep living like this." So, I basically thought ok- I'm going to see what it's like sober. I want to know what it's like to be completely sober and feel positive effects. As I've heard said before, give it some time sober- then see what you think. I heard a speaker at an AA meeting last night say "Give it a year. Try for one year and then if you want to go back to drinking, that's on you."
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Old 11-17-2013, 04:19 PM
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Originally Posted by goingdownslo View Post
Been knocking back the booze for pretty much 30 years now...Im 50. cant sleep.. nervous most of the time... pint & a half of rum daily habit... Teeth are starting to fall out! bad stomach, you get the point right? I know if I keep up this pace I will die. Most likely with in a year or two. I want to stop. I need to stop. I have to stop... I just have one problem!!! I Love drinking, I do, Love it. How does one stop if you love what you're doing?? Please help? When you get off the booze? Do you change your mind about drinking? Help needed...
I hated drinking in the end but was simply addicted to it. It is unusual to hear someone say they love it. Perhaps you don't suffer with hangovers or inappropriate behavioural patterns?. Yours is a hard question to answer if I'm honest.
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Old 11-17-2013, 04:30 PM
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Doctor visit, advise of need to quit, ask for help for a plan for withdrawals. Try some AA meetings, read a bunch here. At that daily level, you have no idea what you love, you have nothing to compare to.
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Old 11-17-2013, 04:42 PM
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Have you thought of rehab?

If your desire to drink, despite the obvious consequences, is still that strong, and you still declare you love drinking...

maybe you need a bit of time in a structured safe environment, away from the drink, where you can think about things with a clear head?

I think foolsgold makes a great point. You have no idea of what alternative ways of living might be right now.
I didn't love drinking. I hated it after 20 years.

But I was terrified of not drinking. It was easier to pretend love than acknowledge fear.

D
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Old 11-17-2013, 04:42 PM
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If you can't sleep, are nervous and having digestive issues….you can't be feeling too good. You say you want to stop drinking, so I'd talk with your doctor. If you stop, you'll be amazed at how much you love being sober I don't think there's many of us who quit, that would ever go back to drinking.
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Old 11-17-2013, 04:44 PM
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I hear you when you say you love drinking. How do you feel about the "dying" part?
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Old 11-17-2013, 05:15 PM
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I got sober when the part of me that wanted to be sober was bigger than the part that wanted to drink. And if I'd continued drinking I would die from it and I didn't want to do that to my family.
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Old 11-17-2013, 05:17 PM
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Do you have people depending on you for support? That helped me to stop.
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Old 11-17-2013, 05:43 PM
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I quit 2.5 years ago at the age of 50.

It CAN be done!
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Old 11-17-2013, 05:49 PM
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I am sorry to hear of your situation, but thank you for the motivation to completely stop drinking at a much younger age.
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Old 11-17-2013, 05:56 PM
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Wow. Your post is a blast from the past. I had a long love affair with booze. People drink for different reasons. I drank because I was awake. I couldn't imagine my life without booze and no consequence would deter me from drinking. I lost everything, multiple times. Went to jail. Multiple rehabs. Had bad health. You get the idea.

I was told that I either had to choose recovery or alcoholic death. So I chose alcoholic death. At least with that, I knew about how that was going to happen and I couldn't imagine life without drinking.

I loved drinking, but it stopped loving me. Thankfully before dying, I finally "got done" and was ready and willing to quit booze. I made a plan and followed it exactly...every day. I still do this. Follow the plan everyday.

I don't even think about booze anymore. I don't think about drinking anymore. I don't even want it. It is not a part of my life. What I DO have is a whole bunch of things that I never realized were even possible in my life. My life is amazing now. And it takes so little effort on my part to keep it that way.

Glad you are here. I can totally relate to your post. I was months or less from death and things could have turned out so differently.....
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Old 11-17-2013, 06:31 PM
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Hi goingdownslo and welcome!

I loved loved loved loved loved loved loved loved drinking. I absolutely loved it. Did I say that I loved drinking and how much I loved it?

Well I did, until I realized what it was doing to me and to my life. The beginning pretty much sucked getting through the cravings and watching all my friends going out to play. All my drinking buds hanging out and I couldn't be there. Boo boo face to the max.

Then, a strange phenomenon happened. Once I made the necessary changes in my life and got through that initial part I found out something very interesting.

I didn't love drinking nearly as much as I thought it did. Almost 6 months in now and I've never been happier. What comes to mind now when I look back at all that fun that I thought that I was having is disgust over how much time I wasted succumbing to an addiction that served no purpose. I just thought it was fun.

You can feel this same way too believe it or not. 7 months ago I could have posted almost exactly what you did.

Life is far BETTER without it and much more fun (if you do it right).
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Old 11-17-2013, 06:45 PM
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Hi goingdown. I felt the same way. I was in my 50's when I quit, drinking for 30 yrs. like you. What I loved was the way it USED to make me feel - not the uneasy, foggy, numb feeling I had in the end. It was taking it's toll. I was so afraid to let go of it - I'd used it to cope for most of my life. Now that I have close to 6 yrs. sober, I never miss it and am thrilled to be free.

I'm glad you've reached out for support and encouragement. You'll find plenty of it here. We all understand how it is to be dependent on it & we want to help.
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Old 11-17-2013, 06:48 PM
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Originally Posted by LadyBlue0527 View Post
Hi goingdownslo and welcome!


I didn't love drinking nearly as much as I thought it did. Almost 6 months in now and I've never been happier. What comes to mind now when I look back at all that fun that I thought that I was having is disgust over how much time I wasted succumbing to an addiction that served no purpose. I just thought it was fun.

You can feel this same way too believe it or not. 7 months ago I could have posted almost exactly what you did.

Life is far BETTER without it and much more fun (if you do it right).
I felt exactly the same way. I just didn't miss it anymore. When I tried to drink "socially" after two years, I really didn't enjoy that at all even though I started drinking like I'd never quit. So I stopped again, and feel a little happier everyday.

I also really really loved to drink and did it for over 35 years.
My husband still drinks, sometimes leaves his bottles or half-finished drinks on the counter.

I wouldn't touch them today, and I don't even want to, but the old me would have thought "jackpot" seeing half a bottle of rum on counter Sunday morning. So even very habitual drinkers can change their attitudes if they choose to. I hope you give it a try for a good long period before making up your mind (yes, the first weeks and months can be tough) and welcome to SR
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Old 11-17-2013, 07:04 PM
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I'm new to this website, and this is the first forum I've read. I'm in my thirties and have tried to quit drinking a few times. This time I really want to do it to prove to my husband and myself that I can. I love to drink, and for the last 10 plus years, that's what I've been doing. I give myself reasons to drink. I don't drink all day or start first thing in the morning. I guess you can say I'm a functioning alcoholic. I can drink a lot and do when I'm given the opportunity, which is quite often, say 4-5 times a week at night. It's nice to hear that you do get "over it," and can enjoy things again. Right now I'm just thinking about how I may someday be able to drink again, but deep down I know that it will just take me down this road I'm on now. So far, I've found that getting all the booze out of the house and not putting myself in a drinking situation has helped, but it's only been 3 days for me. Not sure how long I can keep this up though. To goingdownslo, I wish you the best of luck and hope you find the same strength I am looking for to get me through this. Hopefully the support I've seen that people share on here will help you like I HOPE it will help me!
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Old 11-17-2013, 07:19 PM
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Welcome to you too Tippy
D
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