So you reckon you can have just a couple???
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Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: London
Posts: 2,040
So you reckon you can have just a couple???
I have been listening to an alcohol recovery audio book and one of the last chapters discussed the idea that some people, after a period of sobriety feel that they are able to have a few drinks. I am more than happy to envision a future where alcohol is no where to be seen...so will not be planning on this. The point of this thread is that the book asks you to consider some questions to help you determine whether alcohol still has a hold on you. I listened and just thought I wouldn't trust my AV not to get involved so it's not worth asking myself the questions. Anyway it came to me when my partner came home last night with chocolate...he loves chocolate...like he cannot get enough. I don't mind it...sometimes I fancy a piece...a chocolate bar can last me days. Not the same with him. Anyway it hit me...I do not have the same take it or leave it approach to alcohol as I have with chocolate...and that is how I know I cannot just have a couple of drinks. I found it so useful to consider something instead of alcohol to help me understand just how far away from where you would need to be to even consider having 'just a couple' and thought this might be a useful exercise to throw out there for anyone considering toying with the idea that they can have a couple, or whether they even have a problem with alcohol.
Have a great sober weekend SR x
Have a great sober weekend SR x
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Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 8,637
yep.... "just a couple"..... the hopeful myth of the serial relapse....
Took me a while to admit it to myself.
Took me a year and a half long relapse after 5 months sobriety to really "get it".
Even then, even NOW... sometimes the odd thought of "maybe I could have just a couple" will pop up.
But now it's sort of just another odd thought and I'm able to look at it and smile it away for the nonsense that it is.
Took me a while to admit it to myself.
Took me a year and a half long relapse after 5 months sobriety to really "get it".
Even then, even NOW... sometimes the odd thought of "maybe I could have just a couple" will pop up.
But now it's sort of just another odd thought and I'm able to look at it and smile it away for the nonsense that it is.
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Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: The North, UK.
Posts: 155
Strange you should mention chocolate. I told my other half I was stopping drinking and she said to me, while I was eating chocolate, 'that's your problem with booze; you drink how you eat and have to finish everything that's there - you cant just break off a piece and make it last'. That pretty much sums me up. I have to finish what's there; in the bottle, on the shelf, in the house, in the shop...the problem is chocolate doesn't tell me to go and find more once the bar's gone.
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Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Sydney Australia
Posts: 4,225
Nova, I think it's great you were able to be hoenst with yourself. I love that you ignored the questions that might lull you into thinking you could have a couple of drinks.
Keep up your strong resolve.
Keep up your strong resolve.
You can have reasons, or you can have results, but you can't have both.
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Syracuse, NY
Posts: 1,232
Only 26 days in, I can honestly say I prefer the abstinent lifestyle. I'm not interested in a reconciliation with alcohol.
It doesn't offer anything I want. :-)
It doesn't offer anything I want. :-)
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Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 25,373
The really frightening part for me is that I can moderate. Sometimes.
I quit drinking for many years. Found myself having a drink without really giving it a lot of thought. Didn't have another one for weeks. Then slowly, insidiously, it started to change.
Within a few short years, I was an all day every day drinker. I wanted to die. I was depressed and afraid of my own shadow. It took me two years longer to quit again. There were still days when I would have "only" a couple beers. I guess you could try to call that moderation.
Moderation. It works until it doesn't. I didn't get any warning postcards. I was suddenly hooked. I went from occasional drinker to daily alcoholic. I don't ever want to go through that again. Moderation will never work for me.
I quit drinking for many years. Found myself having a drink without really giving it a lot of thought. Didn't have another one for weeks. Then slowly, insidiously, it started to change.
Within a few short years, I was an all day every day drinker. I wanted to die. I was depressed and afraid of my own shadow. It took me two years longer to quit again. There were still days when I would have "only" a couple beers. I guess you could try to call that moderation.
Moderation. It works until it doesn't. I didn't get any warning postcards. I was suddenly hooked. I went from occasional drinker to daily alcoholic. I don't ever want to go through that again. Moderation will never work for me.
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Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Southern Oregon U.S.
Posts: 1,023
Did someone say chocolate?!? I wander the kitchen like a zombie in the middle of the night looking for treats my GF has hidden away. I have to hold her popcorn hostage to find out where the good stuff is.
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Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 8,637
Originally Posted by least 
After six months sober, I thought I could drink again. Ended up drinking for two days straight and had the worst withdrawal ever. 
I'll not try that again.
I'll not try that again.
Trudgin
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 6,348
Originally Posted by biminiblue
Then slowly, insidiously, it started to change.
operating or proceeding in an inconspicuous or seemingly harmless way but actually with grave effect.
One word says it all...........
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