CLAS

I'm using SR as part of my plan to stay sober. Sometimes I get on here and ask questions. It helps me just to type a post and stay connected to this community. I hope I'm not annoying everyone to death.

Is there anyone on here that didn't want to drink moderately? Curious about this because I never wanted to. I see lots of references to wanting to drink normally. That wasn't me, I wanted zero drinks or to be completely numb wasted.

I hope everyone is doing good. Trying to hang on here.

Dee74

Initially I wanted to drink as much as I wanted without the consequences.

Further on I accepted that drinking to unconsciousness was not what other people did, so I wished I could be 'satisfied' with a certain number of drinks - that number getting me a buzz, but not impairing judgement taste or coordination.

Never found that number.

D

Mattq2

I guess I moderated in the beginning which was long ago. In the end I was going to drink my 8 to ten beers every night no matter what. I guess I've known for so long that I was an alcoholic and couldn't drink normally that I didn't even think about it.

Delilah1

I attempted to drink moderately many times, I just never was able to figure out what the line was, and once I had that first drink pouring a second seemed inevitable.

thomas11

I entertained the idea of moderation for awhile, it was a fallacy. I had to quit. When I was drunk I posted on this forum that moderation was for amateurs. Not really that funny.

bluedog97

I'm with you, later in my drinking career I had no illusions about it- I wanted to drink to get drunk. Earlier on I would rationalize and say, "Oh ill just have a few" but it never worked out that way. As it progressed I had pretty much given up and accepted I just wanted to drink as much as possible.

BrendaChenowyth

We truly didn't want to drink moderately, most of us wanted to get drunk. Most drinkers, drink to get a buzz.

Moderate for a woman technically, is one standard drink.. four ounce glass of wine, one ounce of liquor or one beer.

Did we ever drink moderately? Ladies? Ever? No. We did not.

I don't think anyone really drinks moderately, even non-alcoholics who go out and have a couple drinks with friends after work.

ScottFromWI

My theory on moderation when it comes to alcohol is that if you have to consciously decide to moderate, you almost certainly have a problem. "Regular" drinkers don't even talk about moderation..they just do it and never think twice about it.

esinger

I might have told others that I would moderate or "just have a couple beers". When I look back on it, I drank to get drunk, always. It was my escape and I was always running from myself.

fini

i never wanted to, though i tried to.
my moderation experiments were not about volume on one occasion, but about occasions, for example: weekends only, or only with orhers, or only on holidays, or only on special occasions.

when i knew there wasn't enough to drink, i'd have zero instead of a torturous one or two.

SoberD

This ^^

I only started dreaming of moderation until after I realized that I couldn't drink without getting drunk...

MsCooterBrown

Yeah what is the point in having one or two....From the onset of my drinking career I was on a mission to dive into oblivion. Then the real problem becomes ..when you first start out a six pack could do the trick. (started drinking at 13)...then you up the ante to a twelve pack. BUT WAIT that isn't doing it so you start drinking whiskey or Rum. See the whiskey didn't quite do it but the Rum was the ticket! Moderation has never been in my book. And I totally agree. I would skip it all together if I only had one or two drinks left. What would be the point of that!!!

By the way...watch your kids. I was a kid that hung out with another kid with older siblings that would buy us beer. Say night to the folks and hang out downstairs. OR out the window depending on the night. Looking back I am lucky to be alive.

Forward12

I think for many when the fight against alcohol is finally making it clear you are losing, many try anything they can to "have their cake and eat it too" with moderation being one of those tactics.
Though as most all will find, it is virtually impossible to moderate if you are an alcoholic.

MythOfSisyphus

I drank to get wasted, pure and simple. Once I began to understand that my drinking days were numbered my fantasies turned to moderation. Wouldn't it be nice to be civilized and cultured and have two glasses of wine with my dinner when I went out? And wouldn't it be great to have one beer by the campfire like in the beer commercials?

Of course those where the whispered dreams of The Beast. Now I could easily replace the words wine or beer with cancer and the statement would be no more ridiculous.

I'm not a doctor or addiction medicine specialist, and I can't say what is medically possible or impossible. So I will just say that from my own experience for a person that's an alcoholic to work back to moderation is a pipe dream. And a dream that is counterproductive since it tends to encourage postponing the inevitable.

2ndhandrose

"That wasn't me, I wanted zero drinks or to be completely numb wasted."

Yes, that was how I drank, too, all or nothing. But.....over the years I had a longing or a wish that I could experience drinking like a normie

I have wondered what it must be like to have a working off switch. To not feel compelled to drink to oblivion each and every time.

But, alas, I don't have a working off switch so I will never know.

What I do know is that I could never moderate and that won't ever change.

BrendaChenowyth

I poured a glass of wine for somebody last weekend (she couldn't do it) and she tried it, said it was very good, and then seemed to have forgotten it was there, because the rest got dumped out.

That doesn't compute for me. If I'm drinking, I'm focused on it until it is gone. I'm the same way now with coffee, I'm really addicted to it. I wish I was that way with water, because I know it's so good for me. lol

Mentium

I used to want to drink moderately in order to feel better. Unfortunately I also wanted to drink a lot to feel drunk!

The two didn't seem to work too well together!

starstarstar

hmmm... Never really thought about it. I stopped because I was using drinking to cope rather than celebrate or just enjoy a glass of wine while doing something like cooking dinner. Something to think about.