Wtbaf16

In an effort to keep on track, I'm on day 11 , each evening when I come home instead of making a "very strong" cocktail and chasing it with 3-4 more very strong cocktails, I am making myself a Mocktail. Just one as I don't actually chug it - coz why?, plus it's wasted calories. It actually does the trick. I sit outside with my Mocktail, chatting to my daughter or husband, or reading the news. It gives me the space I need - which only alcohol provided previously, and I'm not tempted to put a shot in it. Is this good or am I kidding myself?
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Soberwolf

My experience of mocktails is 0 but I know they are more for social gatherings where either it puts off people who keep asking do you want a drink or for something a bit different from having water or Oj all the time

if and I say if it applies.. that your having this mocktail to recreate what you used to drink in a now non alcoholic fashion I would be inclined to say that's a slippery slope

The red flag for me is your having mocktails at home & not at a gathering

Hope this helps

doggonecarl

I was a beer drinker primarily, but I did sometimes drink liquor, usually shots, but occasionally I'd drink a mixed drink. Nothing fancy. A rum and coke, whiskey and ginger ale.

I won't drink a NA beer. Too much like my drink of choice. Looked like beer, packaged like beer, poured like beer, tingled in my throat like a beer. Nope, won't touch it.

But drinking a coke or ginger ale doesn't make me crave a rum and coke or whiskey and ginger ale. Perhaps if that was my primary drink I'd stay away.

If your mocktail makes you yearn for the real thing, then that's a danger. If not, enjoy.

doggonecarl

Wanted to add one more thought...

If one is drinking a "pretend" drink, what are we pretending?

Wtbaf16

Thank you Soberwolf I used to drink at home every night - the second I got home from work, so the Mocktail is more to replace what I used to do while making dinner. I'd fix a drink, start dinner, and was trashed before I got to serve dinner. Actually, for the past 10 years I barely remember eating dinner or cleaning up afterwards, or putting my kid to bed etc., etc., so to stop that knee-jerk reaction when I get home, I fix a Mocktail. Usually grapefruit and cranberry juice - the healthy option. Sometimes I simply have a glass of water. It's about 50/50.

That being said, the fact that I'm asking the question makes me falter. I agree, this could be a sloppy slope back to drinking. I need to rethink!

Wtbaf16

Quite honestly i think I am using the mocktail as a substitute for a cocktail - which was my choice of drink. Maybe with the dehydration I'm experiencing I should buy Gatorade or something similar instead.

Thank you for the reality check!

Meraviglioso

If it is too much like your old drink then I'd stay away. I would never, ever touch non-alcoholic wine as wine was my drink of choice. I might, for example, have a non-alcoholic beer. I haven't yet, as I don't want one and don't think I'd like the taste, but would drink one in the future if for some reason it was offered and I wanted it. But that is only because I never drank beer in an alcoholic way. I might have had one or two beers a year. Wine, no way. No way would I go there in any shape or form, including without alcohol. Way too slippery.
If you are using the same mixers you used before I would rethink what you are doing. There are tons of different mixers out there, just pick something different. I am loving the new ginger beers (like ginger ale, 0% alcohol, but spicier) and as it is summer and hot, lemonade. Sparkling water is nice with herbs from my garden. I add a slice of lime and some mint or a thin slice of lemon with some fresh lavender. These special drinks also give me some time to sit outside, relax, take some time to wind down, but are absolutely nothing like my old drink of choice and that is important for me.

graciepearl

Ditto to above comments. I shocked myself the other night as I realized I was reaching for my water bottle instead of a wine glass while I was cooking dinner and it felt natural. The good news is old behaviors can be changed for new ones. Great job on 11 days !!

thomas11

Like others have said, I think it CAN be a slippery slope, but doesn't have to be. If you are ok with it and don't yearn for something more, then I see no issue. As we all know, the important thing is that you don't consume alcohol. Right?

Camery03

Maybe switch to sparkling water. It isn't carbonated, replaces water when you are bored with that, and comes in some good flavors. I like to freeze mine and sip on it when I make dinner or relax on the patio. I suppose that could be my "mocktail" but I never drank vodka mixed with anything other then water, so I don't feel as if I am having a drink. It is a refreshing treat!

SweatyHands

I drink all sorts of fancy beverages, that could probably be turned into a cocktail. The thing is to change old habits and patterns to avoid the urge to drink. If this is the change that works for you, then stick with it. If it doesn't work, and only you know that, then stop. I personally have no problem not stopping at the liquor store before having a glass of grapefruit and seltzer.

OpenTuning

When I first went to the cottage after quitting drinking a year ago I bought a bunch of non-alcoholic beers. I'd always had my first beer when the sun moved off the lake and I couldn't imagine the cottage without it.

Drank a few of them, then I just felt it was absurd. I realised I'd never actually liked the taste of beer. That was something I'd been brainwashed into thinking. Instead I started mixing different kinds of juice with sparkling water, and would drink that while reading a book and watching the sun go down. It's nice to make yourself something tasty to drink as a treat. And that's my new pattern for holiday drinking. Other people get into trying new herbal teas or infusions to replace the alcohol they used to think they needed to unwind.

I completely agree, if what you're drinking instead is triggering desires for the alcoholic drinks they're replacing, then find something different. But I can't see any reason why just because we're choosing sobriety we can't make ourselves something special to drink, non-alcoholic, whenever we feel we deserve it

uncorked

I agree with Thomas....it you're fine with it, it's working, and it's helping you stay away from alcohol, go for it. I drink N/A beer for the same reason. There is only one brand I like, though. I was a wine drinker so beer, real or fake, isn't a trigger for me. You can look at your mocktail as a treat for yourself or a way to wind down at the end of the day -- as long as it won't create longing for the real thing. Sometimes we need that when we first become sober.

tomsteve

im very glad ya see how horribly bad this can go.
I was gonna ask whats wrong with a tall glass of ice water or lemonade, but it reads like ya got "it".

I will say that for me it would be like asking the Lord to lead me from temptation, then walking right into it.

Forward12

I was the same way. I bought non-alcoholic beer before, but could barely finish one as i came to realize I didn't even like the taste of beer that much, what it did to get me plastered was.
My father on the otherhand was a huge beer drinker, and always had an o'doal's in hand to keep him away from the real thing, and it worked.
I think you will get mixed feeling of some saying you're playing with fire, while others think it's fine as long as it keeps you sober. Really I think only you can decide which path it's taking you on.