Grimes

So i decided to buy another car to try to get a better job, havent driven in a few years because of alcohol. Made a promise to myself to not even have one while driving.

Easter sunday comes around I have a hard enough time going to these family deals. So i have a few around 4-5, would be fine if I was driving myself I guess, but had my girlfriend, my mom, and sister in the car.
Everything went fine got there, had a few at the dinner, and drove home sober by then.

That night the GUILT was SOOO HUGE, i think i got around 1 hour of sleep that night.

If my family would have known I had even one they wouldn't have even got in the car.

fini

so now that you know what promises to yourself are worth, what are your thoughts about how to go forward?

Dee74

Not sure what kind of feedback you're looking for?

I figure either stop drinking , or sell the car.

D

AnvilheadII

So i have a few around 4-5, would be fine if I was driving myself I guess, but had my girlfriend, my mom, and sister in the car.

this what the disease/illness will do to our thinking......that drinking is more important than the lives and safety of those we most cherish. we could be reading today about another tragic drunk driving story on CNN right now........

Maudcat

Glad you are okay. Lucky, I guess.
Please think about this: if the family bugs you, don’t go.
If it’s a trigger, don’t go.
Sobriety is the number one thing right now.
That you were able to get through the day without mishap is, as one of my Whiny friends says, a strangely wrapped gift.
Take the gift and do something with it.

Grimes

for this one, I think from now on its a good idea to say im not gonna drive.

Grimes

stop drinking of course is the plan. Not really sure what im looking for either

wildflower70

Maybe give yourself a real gift....sobriety

You can drive wherever, whenever, and whoever you like!!

Happy Easter(belated)

Arpeggioh

I'm enjoying lots of benefits along with my sobriety, but honestly, the ability to drive anyone anywhere anytime (*Wildflower*) is probably one of the highlights, for some reason. It's probably to do with a physical sense of freedom, and convenience.

Not drinking is sometimes hard, but it makes my life so much easier! You'll see...

Berrybean

Well, here's a plan for you.

Why not look up some AA meetings that involve a really nice drive. Places maybe you wouldn't usually have a chance to drive.

And drive to those meetings. Sit and listen and drink a coffee. Help stack the chairs at the end and chat to some folks as you help them so you can get to know them. Then drive home, eat well, exercise and plan where to drive for your next meeting.

Your amends to your girlfriend, her family and yourself (and everyone who might share the road with you) could be to never drink and drive again, and to drive condsiderately and legally at all times. It's called a living amends. It feels like you're letting yourself off lightly, but they can be the hardest amends to make in reality.

Yes, we do make stupid and dangerous choices as active alcoholics. But there is a remedy for that stupidity. It's called Sobriety with Recovery. If you go down that road youre sure to find that lost integrity. That's where most of us located ours in the end.

We are NOT idiots, but while we chose active alcoholism over sober recovery, then our intelligence and integrity gets hijacked by our addiction. That guilt you're feeling is likely to be a regular feature in your life if you carry on, but the choice is each of ours to make.

BB

Dustitoffman

I just don't understand the thought process of 4 or 5 would be fine if it was just me.

A car is a potential lethal weapon a tonne of metal that can exterminate the life of people that are inside and even more likely those not inside. (Someone elses family) it does not distinguish between mother son or child.

What thought process is it that makes people able to justify compromising cognitive ability in any way with drugs or drink then get behind the wheel of a vehicle.

In the UK the limit is abbroximately 1 strong beer so what is the point no one drinks one beer if they are drinking beer.

My take on the legal limit is that it is there as a buffer for people who have 4to 5 beers the night before and in the morning of the next day there is residual amounts still in the blood stream. Not 4 or 5 then driven.

A 9 unit bottle of wine takes 9 hours to be processed out of the body it may be slower processing when sleeping.

Don't drink and drive! IT WRECKS LIVES!

fini

if stopping drinking is the plan (and that, in itself, isn't really a plan as such, though a beginning) then I think from now on its a good idea to say im not gonna drive. undermines the not-drinking-plan by planning for drinking-without-driving.

biminiblue

Right. The driving isn't the problem. The drinking is the problem.

You can just stop drinking, you know. Lots of us have.

Make the decision. Back that up with every action necessary to support that decision.

I don't drink. Ever. No matter what.

Grimes

Ya, gotta get back into AA meetings, not much of a talker, but loved going to the open speaker meetings.

Gottalife

Work the steps my friend. The meetings alone don't work for the real alcoholic.

The majority of people I know who relapse are going to meetings, that's how I know about it. All the real alcoholics I know who have worked the steps and adopted the AA way of life, don't relapse.