Redviper

It doesn't seem to matter if it's one day or a few years the urge to drink never fully goes away. After a hard work day I caught myself wanting to pick up some beer on the way home. I actually convinced myself that I really could control my drinking and that I didn't need to stay sober anymore. That really I'm fixed now and I'll never be "that drunk guy"ever again. The only real way to never be that person is to never drink again. I went straight home. Why after all this time does the urge still remain?

FreeOwl

That urge is there for us - as it seems to be for many 'normal' folk too.

The urge may well return anytime... What we CAN change is the response to it.

Dee74

Hi RV - good to see you again

For some the urge never seems to come again.

I wasn't like that - I felt the urge several times in the years since I quit.

Each time it was a little less urgent tho...and each time I was more able to easily dismiss it as foolish, crazy thinking.

I've accepted I'll always be an alcoholic and so, even tho it's been years since I've had an urge to drink, it wouldn't surprise me to have one again.

I don't think of these urges as a sign I've failed in any way - I treat them as a reminder not to be complacent, to be vigilant, and to keep my recovery programme 'well oiled'.

D

Mags1

Hi RedViper, I get an urge now and again. It may be people talking of barbecues or summer days in the garden or a good old curry but it flickers in my thoughts. In the past I would have satiated my urge to drink, but as free owl says, we change our response to it.

I don't pick up a drink because it's a fleeting thought, my tools serve me well to deal with any such thoughts and as Dee says, it gets a little urgent to each time to .dismiss it.

For me, having the tools as in sr to come to and read experiences from other fellows who understand and be prepared for any such urges and cravings.

Marcher13

Hi RedViper, two years down the sober track I still get the urge to drink occasionally. I accept that an urge is just that, a strong desire to drink, it isn't drinking unless I act upon it -- which I don't.

Have you been in the situation where a small child cries and screams wanting something in a store and the parent says no? Same thing.

Yes it is, really.

MythOfSisyphus

Maybe the craving is like a phantom limb that never goes away. For the most part I don't get many cravings but occasionally the drinking reflex shows itself still, three years into sobriety. But it has gotten a lot weaker as the months go by.

Buggirl

Well done for not drinking!

IOAA2

Hi.
I’m very grateful that any urge to have “A” drink left me many years ago soon after stopping drinking and worked on my sobriety.

A helpful hint was to think about NOT drinking and where drinking got me.

For many who are alcoholics simply not drinking and going merrily on with life usually does not work.
Recovery is a long process requiring work and changes in our actions and reactions. Like in real life we don’t get a PhD. In kindergarten.

BE WELL

PurpleKnight

For me I always remind myself that urges, thoughts etc are nothing to beat ourselves up over, we are who we are, but the achievement is in the not acting on them.

Merely thinking about alcohol doesn't cause a hangover in the morning!!

thomas11

good for you redviper. I'm pretty new to not drinking, but urges to drink have gotten less and less.

Soberwolf

My last real urge was just after christmas 2013 i was around 5 months

Ive not experienced that same feeling since & i hope i never do again what i will say is ive seen ppl stay 7 years sober & all of a sudden they decide thier not alcoholic ive seen ppl with over 25 years in a mtn come in & say they relapsed

i know this is for a lifetime i have a picture on my phone of the burned out room i was burning away in 1 look at that picture reminds me of exactly why im doing what im doing

The way i see it is why would i exchange all the goodness sobriety has brought me for a cheap bottle of poison

My worst day sober is far better than my best day drunk how could it not be