desertkid

So last night I went overboard and drank way too much. Passed out around 7:30 and woke up around midnight and trudged upstairs to bed. Today I had two drinks and quit. Feel fine now and will watch some telly before hitting the sack. Still struggling with wondering if I have a problem.

least

Well, if you're posting about it on a recovery forum, I'd say a part of you thinks it is a problem. I knew my drinking was a problem but was too afraid of withdrawals to quit. Until I finally wanted to be sober more than I wanted to drink.

Do you want to be sober? Even if it's not a problem, you'd be better off sober anyway. And it eliminates a lot of related problems; financial, emotional, physical.

I've been sober over 9 yrs now and never once have I woken up and wished I had drank the night before.

desertkid

I post here because I don't know and have questions. I like drinking but admit I go too far sometimes. Other times I drink nothing or have one or two and then quit.

SoberRican

Seems like your on the fence. Do you get the shakes or whatever when you stop? If so then your body is going to crave booze . no bueno. Hey the sober life is where its at real talk. You will know when your ready. Keep coming back

desertkid

No shakes. I think you are right. I'll know when I'm ready. Someone posted something the other night that really made me think: Instead of asking yourself if you're an alcoholic ask yourself if booze is making your life better? That hit a nerve. And I have to admit that no, it does not make my life better. I like the taste and feeling but that is only temporary. In the long run the answer is no.

Dee74

I know that whenever I wondered if I had a problem my mind would go to those few times I drank with restraint...and ignore the many
hundreds of times I didn't.

Over the years those times of restraint became less and less....I really believe that drinking like we do is a progressive thing.

I know you haven;t been here very long but I remember from your first thread you drank for seven days in a row.

Call it whatever you like, but thats not normal drinking.


Based on my experience, the sooner you can make the lifestyle decision to not drink anymore, the better.

D

Fluffycloud

I think the reason you struggle to decide if you have a problem is because it's socially expected that people will drink. I carried on trying for ages to drink moderately because I wanted to be "normal". I believe there is a line you cross where moderation and cutting back are no longer an option BUT it's an invisible line!

nez

It is perfectly acceptable behavior to not drink. There is absolutely nothing wrong with not drinking. You don't have to have a problem in order to not drink.

On the other hand, if you are like I was and find that you are drinking even if and when you don't want to drink, then the bad news is that you probably have a problem.

The good news is that it doesn't have to remain a problem. I am an alcoholic and I no longer drink. I haven't had a drink in over16 years and have no regrets about not drinking for the last 16 years.

Use to be that I had to drink. I no longer have to drink, nor do I want to. That is freedom. There is absolutely nothing wrong with not drinking. :~)

Robert88

I can't tell you if you have a problem and even if I did you would have to accept that and you got to figure that one out for yourself. All I can say is that I have been sober for 6 months and my life has already improved 1000 percent.

SoberCAH

One of the problems associated with deciding to reevaluate your circumstances from time to time and, in the interim, to continue drinking is that doing so will continue to put you in compromising circumstances in which you, your best interests and your life can be quite vulnerable.

When I drank, the people I cavorted with were all drunks, junkies, bartenders, strippers and drug dealers.

Hanging out with these people, particularly when I was wasted, put me in many positions in which a whole host of very bad consequences could have resulted.

Those don't tend to follow me around these days.

If I'm ever not happy with where I am, I have and implement an exit strategy.

When I was drunk, not so much.

So I would realize the risks associated with vowing to reassess the situation from time to time.

Anna

I think that being an alcoholic is not about how often you drink or even how much you drink. It's what happens to you when you start to drink. For me, I usually couldn't stop. And, I always became someone I hated.

I'm glad you're asking yourself questions and that you're doing some reading here.

desertkid

And I think that's the situation. Sometimes I can stop, other times I can't.
I don't hate myself at night when I drink or in the morning when I wake up and wonder if I ate dinner last night. My biggest problem with drinking is that I really don't know what kind of damage I've done to my organs. You don't know until you feel pain and by then it's too late. I have very good genetics and I'm starting to wonder if maybe I am testing those good genes a bit too much.