Class of January 2014 Part 2
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Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: US
Posts: 195
Originally Posted by Kat60 
I just think I have an addiction "gene"; addiction is rampant in my family of origin and I must be always mindful of that. I must be extra diligent with habits that are not healthy...
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Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 1,062
Originally Posted by ronjohn
I can't tell you how much I relate to this. I really think there is some kind of gene. My entire family is rampant with addictive people. If it is not a gene then is must have been the environment we are raised in.
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Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 29
Same in my family (addiction gene). I used to smoke too - a lot - and tried to quit at least 100 times. Tried "Smoke Enders", laser therapy, hypnosis, you name it! Finally quit cold turkey. That keeps me hopeful that after trying to quit drinking at least another 100 times, one of these times (this one!) is bound to "take". I have briefly tried many different methods but have had the most success cobbling together a bit from every program to make it work for me. This time I have added the component of releasing tension because I know if I get tense, it's sayonara and off to the wine shoppe I go. If I am calm, relaxed, I have more control. Sorry - started talking about the addiction gene and went rambling off on a tangent!
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Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 1,062
Originally Posted by Frugal14
Same in my family (addiction gene). I used to smoke too - a lot - and tried to quit at least 100 times. Tried "Smoke Enders", laser therapy, hypnosis, you name it! Finally quit cold turkey. That keeps me hopeful that after trying to quit drinking at least another 100 times, one of these times (this one!) is bound to "take". I have briefly tried many different methods but have had the most success cobbling together a bit from every program to make it work for me. This time I have added the component of releasing tension because I know if I get tense, it's sayonara and off to the wine shoppe I go. If I am calm, relaxed, I have more control. Sorry - started talking about the addiction gene and went rambling off on a tangent!
I need to quit smoking so badly...
I've done it before (cold turkey because, like you, none of the other stuff worked) but I remember being a cranky, cranky angry mess!!! It truly wasn't my best moments! :-)
I haven't been that way when I quit drinking... Weird..
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Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: California
Posts: 2,643
I think that habits are formed that can lead to addition, which is magnified when you have a genetic predisposition to substance abuse. Even with addiction, habits reinforce the act and become routine. The combination of breaking the physical/psychological addiction is further complicated by the daily routines that are engrained in our subconscious minds...triggering the psychological addiction (once the physical dependence has been weaned). Being aware that the subconscious (AV) mind is sending you signals to repeat habitual behaviors that have been psychologically engrained as “rewards” will help you to realize that we have in fact rewired our brains to crave alcohol (or other addictive substance) as a reward instead of what it is in reality, a toxic substance. Seems simple on paper, but that is where the cravings stem from. Breaking the habit/routine/addiction is a long, drawn-out process of rewiring the brain’s reward stimulus.
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Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: US
Posts: 195
Well said Odelle...
Would be interested to hear thoughts on the reward part. I know I do incentive based things with my kids to get them to produce the results I want. Are you thinking like go out and buying yourself XXX if I am sober for 30 days, thus creating a reward. Just curious as I think reward and incentives can play a role in getting people to do stuff. I know it works pretty well at work. LOL
Would be interested to hear thoughts on the reward part. I know I do incentive based things with my kids to get them to produce the results I want. Are you thinking like go out and buying yourself XXX if I am sober for 30 days, thus creating a reward. Just curious as I think reward and incentives can play a role in getting people to do stuff. I know it works pretty well at work. LOL
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Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: California
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Not so much in making a purchase, ronjohn, I need to find something to do on a daily basis that I look forward to. I used to absolutely love working out at the gym...of course I would come home and relax with a glass of wine. 
I do need to get back into an exercise routine. That again is another habit that I need to get into, forming a routine, and hopefully an addiction!
I do need to get back into an exercise routine. That again is another habit that I need to get into, forming a routine, and hopefully an addiction!
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Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 178
Just checking in - extremely long day. When I got home my husband said, "oh, I went to the liquor store and picked you up some (queue enraged MK)...rootbeer. They were out of that ginger ale you like. Aren't you sick of tea? You've been drinking a lot of tea." So very grateful! Going to bed.
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Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 1,062
Originally Posted by Emkay
Just checking in - extremely long day. When I got home my husband said, "oh, I went to the liquor store and picked you up some (queue enraged MK)...rootbeer. They were out of that ginger ale you like. Aren't you sick of tea? You've been drinking a lot of tea." So very grateful! Going to bed.
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Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 1,062
Originally Posted by Odelle
I do need to get back into an exercise routine. That again is another habit that I need to get into, forming a routine, and hopefully an addiction!
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Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: US
Posts: 195
Originally Posted by Odelle
Not so much in making a purchase, ronjohn, I need to find something to do on a daily basis that I look forward to. I used to absolutely love working out at the gym...of course I would come home and relax with a glass of wine. I do need to get back into an exercise routine. That again is another habit that I need to get into, forming a routine, and hopefully an addiction!
I do need to get back into an exercise routine. That again is another habit that I need to get into, forming a routine, and hopefully an addiction!I wonder if some of that is just finding purpose which gives us those little pleasures.
I a really trying to get myself and house into a routine as I think it will help. I have no structure in regards to time so it created a lot of free time to drink and not worry about waking up on time.
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Join Date: Feb 2013
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Ok Odelle, I'll take it too!!
Gonna start tomorrow!
Some walking and light stuff to work my way in to it so I don't get too sore and frustrated!! Don't forget to stretch!!
Speaking of stretching, maybe I'll sign up for that Yoga class I've been promising myself!! God knows I can afford it more now that I'm not stopping for other "stuff" nightly! LOL
Yesterday I transferred into my savings account the amount of money I would have spent on my past "hobby" since I quit ... It felt good!!!
Gonna start tomorrow!
Some walking and light stuff to work my way in to it so I don't get too sore and frustrated!! Don't forget to stretch!!
Speaking of stretching, maybe I'll sign up for that Yoga class I've been promising myself!! God knows I can afford it more now that I'm not stopping for other "stuff" nightly! LOL
Yesterday I transferred into my savings account the amount of money I would have spent on my past "hobby" since I quit ... It felt good!!!
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Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Portland, Oregon
Posts: 145
Day 9. Fleeting cravings but generally OK. Regarding the conversation about habit vs. predisposition, my addiction doctor told me last week that the most recent and comprehensive studies are showing that alcoholism is at least 75% genetic. I am adopted so that makes me even more bewildered about my drinking. I have often wondered why I like to drink so much--the taste, the ability to escape, check out, the ritual of it, a sense of romance... When maybe all along I was just hard-wired for it. Kinda takes the romance away.... Doesn't necessarily stop the cravings, though. At this point, I feel like educating myself about every aspect of the disease--and in the process objectifying it-- is going to be my biggest tool in the toolbox. If the disease is demystified, the motivation to do it would hopefully dissipate.
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Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: US
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Originally Posted by ForestRunner
Day 9. Fleeting cravings but generally OK. Regarding the conversation about habit vs. predisposition, my addiction doctor told me last week that the most recent and comprehensive studies are showing that alcoholism is at least 75% genetic. I am adopted so that makes me even more bewildered about my drinking. I have often wondered why I like to drink so much--the taste, the ability to escape, check out, the ritual of it, a sense of romance... When maybe all along I was just hard-wired for it. Kinda takes the romance away.... Doesn't necessarily stop the cravings, though. At this point, I feel like educating myself about every aspect of the disease--and in the process objectifying it-- is going to be my biggest tool in the toolbox. If the disease is demystified, the motivation to do it would hopefully dissipate.
I like the education thought... Give me something to read to fill the time I used to spend drinking...
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