LonelySausages

Hi everyone. I posted a long introduction but it was erased for some reason so I'll keep it brief.

Is anyone or was anyone here a slow but steady kind of round the clock sort of drinker? I guess I drink a drink an hour from 5pm till 1am'ish (more at weekends or rather I start earlier) 2nd night sober in this recent attempt and I feel I'm doing ok.

I guess I drink to stave off anxiety which is in itself caused by booze so it's really a road to nowhere. I'm rarely drunk even though I drink 6 to 8 drinks a day mostly (sometimes more) and I'm becoming red and bloated around the face.

As I say 2nd night of it for the first time in months and already feeling better but I'm worried being around my hard drinking friends is going to test this at the weekend. I'm worried I'll find some of them intolerable unless I'm drunk

Anna

Welcome!

Dealing with anxiety was one of the reasons I began to drink too. It's the hook, because there is a brief period when it seems to help but then very quickly it goes wrong. The anxiety I caused myself by drinking was horrible.

It will be hard to deal with people and places where drinking is involved. The best thing you can do is to prepare for the weekend by planning to do something different.

Dee74

I was an all day everyday drinker too...I drank to get drunk tho.

I had to ditch a lot of my drinking buddies because they way they lived just didn't fit into what I wanted my life to be....I made lots of new friends tho...and reconnected with a lot of old ones

Welcome

D

Delfin

Welcome, LS!

I've had anxiety and was even on meds but Ive felt about a million times better after quitting. As for drinking friends, Ive had to change my friends now that I'm sober. There's just no way I can be around people or situations that might lead to temptation and relapse. I figure true friends will stick with me, and I no longer need drinking buddies, as I don't drink!

Delfin

Delfin

Hmmm, some of my post sounds a lot like Dee's but I swear I wasn't copying off his.

Delfin

Sasha4

Round here we are all types of drinkers.
We all drink in different ways, amounts and types of alcohol.
However most of us are no different in the way that we see that alcohol in any shape or form makes us unhappy and sometimes the people we love unhappy.

I understand the concerns you have.
I remember when I gave up, me and my friends were going through our 40th birthdays over the year.
So lots of celebrating, lots of boozy parties to attend.
I can remember thinking to myself 'how will I get through all these milestones birthdays?'
I also remember friends asking if that meant I would not drink at their birthday celebrations or indulge?

In the end I decided to do it day by day.
Everyday I woke up and said today no booze.
I thought no further forward.
If friends asked if I would drink, I just said I will see how I feel when the date arrives.

I made it through them all and my own birthday too.

I don't like drunk friends.
I can tolerate them to a point but then leave when they start repeating themselves.
However, true friends, you don't just drink with. There is more to the relationship than that.

I would also rather risk loosing a few friends, or having an altered friendship that does not revolve around boozing if it means I don't have to suffer the self hatred, anxiety, hungover nastiness that alcohol leads me to.

I would say don't think towards the future too much and tolerating other drinkers.
Just try be open minded and see how it goes.

least

Please don't drink just to fit in with your friends. If they are truly your friends they will support your sobriety and not pressure you to drink with them. And if you can't tolerate their drunkenness, then maybe it's time to let go of their company. There are plenty of people who are entertained by things other than alcohol.

You will find lots of support here.

D122y

Welcome, ls.

Not sure where it exists but there is a basic diet, and strategy, I found somewhere to aid in quitting booze.

This gets through the first month or two.

After that, and still today, it is dealing with anxiety and brain rewiring.

It is all there....

If you check my history, I have posted my process, and encouragement, to others there several times.

LonelySausages

Thanks for your replies everyone. Much appreciated. I tend to find the urge to drink to combat the anxiety of a hangover or extended binge eases if I can ride out a few days of sobriety as I've managed these last 2 days. The problem is there is always a social meeting/gig or band rehearsal just around the corner to put me back to square one and once back in that hole reaching for the bottle the next afternoon seems like a quick fix solution. Playing in a band is really quite a problem as every rehearsal is another excuse by many to get 6 or 8 beers down them. I've successfully abstained in these situations in the past but drunk people are just too hard to work with consistently when sober.

MIRecovery

I liked to get to certain level of drunk and then maintain it. Never blacked out, never out of control just pretty well smashed all the time

VDGS

I drank like this for the past couple of years and had myself convinced I was a moderate drinker because of it. No more passing out. No more severe hangovers. But then I realized 6-8 drinks a day still isn't moderate Maybe compared to my days of taking shots until I blacked out, but the booze was still eating at my self esteem, energy level, and overall health. Best of luck.

Hevyn

Glad to meet you, LS. I drank that way too - just maintained a certain level. In the end, I was never truly sober - just numb & foggy. It's no way to live. I'm glad you've decided to make this big change in your life.

MythOfSisyphus

Welcome! Back when I drank it was generally at night. I would try to get a few things done right away when I got home from work and try to delay drinking for a while. But once I started on "the journey" I would drink all night til it was time for bed. Maybe 11:00 pm to 5:00 am.

Soberwolf

Welcome Lonely sausages