The power of alcohol ....
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 19
The power of alcohol ....
15 months in now and honestly can say my life has changed so much all for the better ... family and most importantly the relationship,trust and respect of my son whos 16 is back towards me ... career going well .. enjoying life wake up happy and full of gratitude for being sober and no longer feel the anxiety and dread of trying to get through yet another day of drinking and hiding bottles etc from everyone ... working a 12 step programme daily as best as i can and feel content and happy mostly ... attend AA meetings as much as i can ....still though the av will be present at many times during the day ... its an instinctic thought not a craving yet thankfully ....but really annoying ... i realise since my late teens alcohol has been a part of my life so at the age of 47 now its gonna be firmly stuck in my thought processes but would like to ask others of their experiences of hopefully when the powerful av starts to subside a little ....
bona fido dog-lover
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: SF Bay area, CA
Posts: 99,755
Congrats on 15 months sober! 
I noticed that I rarely thought about drinking after my first year sober. Now, at almost 8 yrs, I hardly ever think about it, and when I do, the thoughts are easily dismissed. 
I noticed that I rarely thought about drinking after my first year sober. Now, at almost 8 yrs, I hardly ever think about it, and when I do, the thoughts are easily dismissed. Member
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: CA
Posts: 1,060
Congrats on 15 months!!
I too get fleeting thoughts of drinking. It's usually when passing a bar or restaurant that I drank in. I too drank for 30 years which means I drank in almost every bar in town. I recently have gone back to bar/restaurants that I used to drink in weekly. In the 22 plus months I haven't been there, they have forgotten all about me and most of the staff is new. Now I have replaced the old drinking memories with new ones.
I too get fleeting thoughts of drinking. It's usually when passing a bar or restaurant that I drank in. I too drank for 30 years which means I drank in almost every bar in town. I recently have gone back to bar/restaurants that I used to drink in weekly. In the 22 plus months I haven't been there, they have forgotten all about me and most of the staff is new. Now I have replaced the old drinking memories with new ones.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 28
I'm overwhelmed with thoughts from what you're saying. I've never gone more than 6 months in the past couple of years, but I haven't put the effort in that you have. I think I've had instinctive thoughts and cravings all along and, when presented the opportunity, they've proven stronger than I am. I think that generally speaking, I've been either binge drinking or at least going for long stretches of regular drinking since I was 13 or 14. For most of my adult life, I was a moderate drinker, but now that I look back, there was a stage set that let me easily slip into the role of alcoholic because I was so familiar with the feeling of "ok with everything" that it brought to me to allow me to hide from hard things and choose to do nothing. No matter what brought me to this point, or you to yours, I think that the realizations you discuss and dealing with the day to day cravings/AVs are just as/maybe more important that finding that source of pain we were trying to soothe when we started down this path. Both are important, but keeping sober today enables healing of the long term problem.
I'm sorry if I sound like I think I know anything and please don't take anything I say as gospel...I'm an alcoholic. I'm here for the same selfish reasons I drink. I need something and am leaning on others to help me figure it out.
I'm sorry if I sound like I think I know anything and please don't take anything I say as gospel...I'm an alcoholic. I'm here for the same selfish reasons I drink. I need something and am leaning on others to help me figure it out.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 328
I am very early in my sobriety, only 77 days but following the first 3/4 weeks I don’t really get any urges or cravings to drink that are anywhere near as strong as they were in the first few weeks.
I have been now to several occasions with plenty of drinking going on and I have went to the shops and bought alcohol for family members and even poured it for them without any issue.
The biggest thing I have noticed is how strong alcohol smells now that I am not drinking it.
I am by no means trying to say that I am great or anything and I know how sneaky the AV can be, I am struggling in other areas but cravings thankfully for now doesn’t seem to be one of them.
I think it’s becuase of the complete and utter surrender and having spent a long time making absolute peace with the fact that I just don’t drink.
I had some Ginger Beer this afternoon as my partner had a glass of red as we put the Xmas Tree up for instance.
Your sober time is great and hats off to you for it.
Looking forward to getting where you are.
I have been now to several occasions with plenty of drinking going on and I have went to the shops and bought alcohol for family members and even poured it for them without any issue.
The biggest thing I have noticed is how strong alcohol smells now that I am not drinking it.
I am by no means trying to say that I am great or anything and I know how sneaky the AV can be, I am struggling in other areas but cravings thankfully for now doesn’t seem to be one of them.
I think it’s becuase of the complete and utter surrender and having spent a long time making absolute peace with the fact that I just don’t drink.
I had some Ginger Beer this afternoon as my partner had a glass of red as we put the Xmas Tree up for instance.
Your sober time is great and hats off to you for it.
Looking forward to getting where you are.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 561
Originally Posted by least 
Congrats on 15 months sober! I noticed that I rarely thought about drinking after my first year sober. Now, at almost 8 yrs, I hardly ever think about it, and when I do, the thoughts are easily dismissed.
I noticed that I rarely thought about drinking after my first year sober. Now, at almost 8 yrs, I hardly ever think about it, and when I do, the thoughts are easily dismissed. Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,355
I should add, alcohol has no power. Its nothing just a liquid. Alcoholism has no power either - not if we refuse to cooperate
If we put all our effort into staying sober, and no effort into drinking....we win
D
If we put all our effort into staying sober, and no effort into drinking....we win
D
Member
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 8,637
as time goes by that definitely fades.
for me, I found I had to work at it by continuing to actively foster my positive attitude toward sobriety. Regular reflection on the many benefits of sobriety, regular journaling about the things that I'd gained, remembering the awfulness alcohol brought my life, engaging in service work with other alcoholics to keep fresh in my awareness the places alcohol leads, regularly looking up role models and reminding myself of others who are sober - and my aspirations to be like them.
Looking at the goodness that has been magnified in my life through sobriety. Regularly staying on top of my recovery - sharing all of this with others in sobriety both here and at AA meetings and other settings.
Over time, what has emerged is a sincere DESIRE for sobriety and a sincere DISDAIN for alcohol. I don't want it. Seldom is there even a passing thought about it being even remotely attractive and on the rare occasion that comes up, I'm quick to reframe it, shake my head in wonder, laugh it off and be thankful I'm free from alcohol in my life.
Keep at it, keep actively sober, keep deepening sobriety and keep sharing!!!
for me, I found I had to work at it by continuing to actively foster my positive attitude toward sobriety. Regular reflection on the many benefits of sobriety, regular journaling about the things that I'd gained, remembering the awfulness alcohol brought my life, engaging in service work with other alcoholics to keep fresh in my awareness the places alcohol leads, regularly looking up role models and reminding myself of others who are sober - and my aspirations to be like them.
Looking at the goodness that has been magnified in my life through sobriety. Regularly staying on top of my recovery - sharing all of this with others in sobriety both here and at AA meetings and other settings.
Over time, what has emerged is a sincere DESIRE for sobriety and a sincere DISDAIN for alcohol. I don't want it. Seldom is there even a passing thought about it being even remotely attractive and on the rare occasion that comes up, I'm quick to reframe it, shake my head in wonder, laugh it off and be thankful I'm free from alcohol in my life.
Keep at it, keep actively sober, keep deepening sobriety and keep sharing!!!
Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: northern michigan. not the U.P.
Posts: 15,281
....now its gonna be firmly stuck in my thought processes but would like to ask others of their experiences of hopefully when the powerful av starts to subside a little ....
good on ya for 15 months and putting in the footwork!
i dont think the thought of alcohol will be firmly stuck there forever,though.
how long the thought will be there varies by person. it was about 6 months before i made it a full 24 hours without even thinking about a drink.
dr bob said a little about his own experience in his story:
Unlike most of our crowd, I did not get over my craving for liquor much during the first two and one-half years of abstinence. It was almost always with me. But at no time have I been anywhere near yielding
which that shows a little of the 10th step promises:
And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone - even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality - safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.
__________________________________________________ ____________________________________
the program doesnt say we wont ever think about alcohol after working the steps, but it does say we will react differently when the thoughts occur
good on ya for 15 months and putting in the footwork!
i dont think the thought of alcohol will be firmly stuck there forever,though.
how long the thought will be there varies by person. it was about 6 months before i made it a full 24 hours without even thinking about a drink.
dr bob said a little about his own experience in his story:
Unlike most of our crowd, I did not get over my craving for liquor much during the first two and one-half years of abstinence. It was almost always with me. But at no time have I been anywhere near yielding
which that shows a little of the 10th step promises:
And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone - even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality - safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.
__________________________________________________ ____________________________________
the program doesnt say we wont ever think about alcohol after working the steps, but it does say we will react differently when the thoughts occur
2/2016
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Texas
Posts: 582
Gratitude has been key. What a great gift sobriety is. I lost weight, saving money, career going great, fully present with family and friends, feel fantastic, lots of inner pride, no shame, no suicide thoughts, no running myself down. I feel so much better overall. Hardly ever think about drinking and I am coming up on 2 years in February.
quat
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: terra (mostly)firma
Posts: 4,822
When I realized having those thoughts(AV) means absolutely nothing more than having them.
I Don't Drink, I decided that, and I'm never changing my mind on that , no more , no matter what, poor beast and its whiny AV.
I decided to separate from those thoughts , to never act on the desire again .
The presence of AV doesn't affect my decision , I've quit and am not going going back.
Recognizing, separating and dismissing the AV has fully broken the illusion of IT holding any power over Me. IT's still there , but the fact it literally means nothing other than IT's there, makes it less than annoying.
I've always worked outside and in the winter if I accept it may be cold , even really cold and just 'let it happen', I fair better than if I bare down and try and grit it out
Nothing Sucks Forever, unless you let it
I Don't Drink, I decided that, and I'm never changing my mind on that , no more , no matter what, poor beast and its whiny AV.
I decided to separate from those thoughts , to never act on the desire again .
The presence of AV doesn't affect my decision , I've quit and am not going going back.
Recognizing, separating and dismissing the AV has fully broken the illusion of IT holding any power over Me. IT's still there , but the fact it literally means nothing other than IT's there, makes it less than annoying.
I've always worked outside and in the winter if I accept it may be cold , even really cold and just 'let it happen', I fair better than if I bare down and try and grit it out
Nothing Sucks Forever, unless you let it
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