ccommer

I am Chris, I am an alcoholic.....
I have been in the program for almost 6 yrs, longest length of sobriety was just over 4 yrs. last summer I drank something in error and was instructed to change my sobriety date....this threw me, changed my program, anyway went on to take a drink.....
this lead to a year of relapse behavior....very recently I have been on a relapse for the past 2 months.
I am having a very hard time returning to sobriety, to be truthfull, I have been enjoying the return to drinking, although I also feel the negative effects and certainly the obbession of the mind.
I guess what I am looking for is how do you get back? back after a relapse that (so far) has not exibited too many negative behaviors?? how do you turn it around???
I really want to get back, please share your stories of coming back with me!

123bubblegum123

ccomer,

you have two choices: 1) bail out now before anything terrible happens OR 2) stay in "the game" long enough to have to face miserable consequences.

The choice is yours.

Rachel

CarolD

Good to see you here again...

When I began my AA Steps I felt a shift
from sober living into recovery.

I strongly suggest you get involved again with AA
again and start fresh on your Step work.

All my best

Dee74

Good to see you back here Chris.

I think we choose our bottoms - most of us don't take that opportunity and have them chosen for us.

Rachels post makes sense to me, and Carols post is a good place to start.

good luck
D

kj3880

I'm sorry you're struggling, but I can also see it as the opportunity that it is, to take a U-turn back towards health and your sobriety. You say you were "instructed" to change your sobriety date and this threw you, perhaps, into a resentment??? This resentment, even if it is against yourself, could hold you back from recommitting totally to keeping your new clean date.

Whatever the error in the drinking episode, I suggest to you that you quickly go ahead and own your part in it, ask God to help you forgive the person who instructed you for their part, if need be, and forgive yourself for the relapse and move on to try it a bit differently this time.

I suggest 90 meetings in 90 days, if you have enough time off of work to go that way for 3 months. I suggest a good hard look at your sponsor. Is he/she a good fit for you right now? Are you able to talk honestly with him/her? I suggest you reread the big book or basic text, whichever fellowship you work within. I suggest you beef up and/or reconnect with your network of recovery friends. I suggest what Carol said--recommit to step work.

It works. If you work it! Congratulations and Welcome back to your recovery!

Love,
KJ

cazzievee

Wise words indeed

NewBeginning010

Most of us enjoyed our drinking too... actually the problem was we enjoyed it far too much & we were very good at it!

Good luck on whatever path you choose.

Take Care,

NB

McGowdog

I can't understand how you drank in the first place... after the 4 years.

Was it an honest accident or something? Did you truely "slip" or was it "willful" drinking? This is an important question for you. If I accidently took a swig of sprite and it had gin in it, I would hope I've got the "power" to just spit it out. But if I'd accidently swallowed it, then decided, "Wow! This is pretty good." and went ahead and drank it... what's that about?

I've done just that back in the days before A.A. when I merely "quit" drinking. I did this many times and I'd grab my now ex-wife's drink and drink a swig and it turned out to be coke and Captain Morgan. Then I'd sense some guilt and figure, "What the heck? Might as well finish it."

Without "Power" in my life, these sort of things happen.

I'd like to know more about the circumstances of somebody convincing you to change your sobriety date or whatever. Did you get drunk when you had this "something in error?" These are important 1st Step type questions. There's a bunch of this stuff covered in the chapter More About Alcoholism. Maybe you discovered a new "insanity". It may be helpful to you and to us to know what this thing was. It wasn't a little whiskey in the milk, was it? No, I'm sure not. What was this "something in error?"

Firehazard

"Bring your body and your mind will follow"

NewBeginning010

Great questions I look forward to the same from my SR crew if I start to waver

vegibean

Get a sponsor and work the steps. You got a lot of great advise already. Mine just happens to be the same to everyone because for me?? If I'm not using the steps in my life, I'm not staying sober. I have to use my tools. With my sponsor, I'm being accountable to someone by checking in everyday.

Hope you'll do the work. Good luck!

least

I tried to do it 'my way', which worked for a while. But now I find I must go to meetings regularly, not just 'sometimes', get a sponsor, and work the steps. It's bound to be better than 'my way', and my way just landed me in the ER for help in withdrawal. I never want to go thru that again, so I'll do what thousands of people have done to stay sober.

And as they say, if you're not satisfied, we'll gladly refund your misery!

suki44883

You get back the same way you did it before. You say you were in the program for six years. Do you mean AA? Well...get back to AA. You were obviously doing something right those six years. Do it again. Alcoholism is progressive and even though you don't feel any damage right now, doesn't mean damage isn't being done. If you were in the program for six years, you already know this. If you are ashamed to go back after the relapse, you should also know that the AA members aren't about beating you down, they are about building you up. They want to help you and if you let them, they will. Good luck!

Believe808

Yep, we alcoholics drink AT people. I had 15 years sobriety and relapsed, my relapse lasted 5 years and cost me a whole lot in my life, mostly the things I always said "oh that never happened to me, I'm not THAT bad," well this time they did I know now that it was because I wasn't working a program. I was going to meetings but that was about it, I got to Step 5 and stopped, felt I could get away with not doing the rest, especially since I was sober for a long time, well I was wrong. The meetings alone are not enough. This time I didn't wait to start the steps, for me the steps are the most important part of recovery. I got a sponsor and started working them steps immediately. They are my guide to staying sober and living a good life. For me I have to visually see something to kind of understand it and I was told that when I hit my bottom (which some people do have a trap door in their bottom) and was in that hole I couldn't use an escalator to climb out, in order to get out I had to erect a ladder of steps. One by one I was able to climb out to safety.
I wish you luck and hope you don't have to dig too deep a hole before you try to get out.

geothinkah