Wilma13

I am so happy. I wanted to write about how good I feel today about not drinking. I know 2 days ago I stopped taking Antabuse and I was going to throw this whole abstinence thing away until after the holidays. But then by the grace of God I realized one of my biggest problems/fears is how to explain I'm not drinking to my friends and family. They look down upon non drinkers in my mind as I have in the past. Perhaps look down is the wrong word. They are uncomfortable around non drinkers. Like me they enjoy drinking buddies so you can drink as much as you want get wasted and not feel the shame. Drinking buddies get it. I didn't want my buddies and family to look at me differently. So I will for now fill a wine cooler bottle with tonic and lime and drink that. If anyone should ask, which I doubt, I will explain that beer seems to be hurting my stomach. I believe revealing my abstinence will be a gradual thing. As I become more confident I will come out clean. For now this seems to be the best option for me.im feeling good about this I can do this by the Grace of You God. Tonight I'm headed to an annual Christmas party with my long time drinking friends, please wish me success. Thanks for all your support:

andyh

good for you - whatever works in the early days

hope things go well for you at the party tonight

ReadyAtLast

I know for me hanging round with drinking friends doing the same things and pretending to drink was a recipe for disaster. I was kidding myself.

I had to and still have to change where I go what I do and who I'm with if I want to stay sober.

In early sobriety there is no way I could go to a party with drinking buddies and not drink. Having hard enough time here at a family relatively sober dinner 😢

hpdw

Hi Wilma I hope you get through your event sober but I think it would have been a better idea staying on your antabuse then performing the tonic trick , I hope I am wrong but is it a coincidence you stopped your antabuse a few days before party time .

Done4today

My plans for party's I have to attend is show up late and leave early.

Good luck

Dee74

Hi wilma - for years I did things according to what my friends thought, or what I thought they might think.

I'm much happier now doing what I want and making no apologies for that.

Not drinking any more is one of the healthiest decisions I ever made and I don;t care who knows it.

Are you going back on the antabuse?

MindfulMan

"Would you like a glass of wine?"

"Not tonight, thanks."

If they persist, a good response is "It just hasn't been agreeing with me lately." And leave it at that.

You might think people look down on you, but in reality they're probably not even giving it a second thought.

Wilma13

Thank you all for your replies. The party worked out fine. No one knew I wasn't drinking and for right now I believe it is what I needed. I did take an Antabuse last night so I knew I would get get sick if I drank. It is a great deterrent for me. I will start taking again regularly as I think this is a great help for me at this time.

JustTony

Whatever works for you is all that matters Wilma.

Personally I had to tell EVERYONE that I was unhappy with my drinking problem and that I was now considering myself to be an alcoholic. I can honestly say I really don't care if anyone is uncomfortable around that or not. I had to take that step (even if I burn people) in order to get better.

Strength to you.

JT

Wilma13

Thank you. I'm praying to have the strength to get to that point. I'd like to be open and honest. But I feel like I'm unstable ground still trying toget through each day AF. That seems to be all I can handle right now.
Wishing you well and thanks again for your reply.

Wilma13

Thank you. I like your response. Mindful man.