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Quitting on New Years. Final Blowout?

Old 12-30-2010, 07:19 PM
  # 21 (permalink)  
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Originally Posted by sarah78 View Post
My advice, don't quit New Years Eve, no good way to enter into the new year drunk. Quit now, no better time then the present!
here's the thing. As I type this, it is NOW. It is the present moment. Tomorrow, it will be NOW again. In a year, it will still be NOW. The part of your brain that craves alcohol, has no concept of time. All it cares about is getting its next fix. Do yourself a favor, not one for the savage that resides in your brain. Quitting now makes sense
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Old 12-30-2010, 07:27 PM
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Don't drink. Start 2011 feeling great! Going for a walk is a great idea!
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Old 12-30-2010, 07:37 PM
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My last drinks were kind of uneventful, other than being the last drinks and an unusually small quantity.

I see what you're getting at, I think, you're trying to use a sort of magic twist to the quitting. But I don't think it's going to work. To me, it's the same as the fact that you've not quit in the last month of thinking about it. If you're ready, you're ready. I remember that I did have some thoughts leading up to the time I quit, like I wondered whether the last day was coming or not. But other than that, it was only planned the night before. I made it so that I would only have a puny number of drinks left for the following night, and then drank those when I knew I wouldn't be able to go out and get more and my energy level would be such that I could just as well go to bed. Which is what I did, I just got under the covers and didn't venture out to buy more the next day and kept it that way. Then waited till I had the courage to bring the bottles in for a recycling refund, and then did that. I considered just leaving them for the garbage/recycling to pick them up, but figured I could brave it out, and it was a decent amount of money to get back.

Maybe there was a little bit of a magic trick to mine after all, because I do consider myself lucky, but I don't go along with this thing about having a party on the would-be final night. What would make more sense is to catalogue all the good and bad in the drinking. There are more than 60,000 people that have used this site, there should be a lot of crap to read to help you with the bad side of the list.
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Old 12-30-2010, 07:37 PM
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Just refusing alcohol all together would have made them suspicious.
If they're nosey enough to bring it up, tell 'em you're on a health kick for the new year. Or tell 'em you don't want a DUI to start off your year. Or just tell 'em to mind their own business...
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Old 12-30-2010, 07:56 PM
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Believe it or not I have made it a yearly ritual for quite a few years, even when I was drinking heavily to not go out and get loaded on New years Eve. I loved the feeling of being one of the only people up at 6:30AM to welcome in the New year clear headed. I also always thought of days like New Years eve and St. Patties day as "amatuer nights", I kept those days sober being if I went out I would have to be around a bunch of knucklehead drunks who couldnt handle their alcohol as well as me. Hell, I was a pro!
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Old 12-30-2010, 08:01 PM
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I almost think that quitting on New Year's Day would be too obvious or something. That's the day that so many people try to start anew on something or quit something or make some resolution that will most likely be broken within a week or so.

With that said, I would say quit now or quit a couple of days after the Jan 1. Know what I mean? Just seems like Jan 1 brings bad luck or something.

However, if you choose to do a final blow out, be sure to not drive and take a taxi and or call a sober friend to pick you up. Or if you are gonna be alone at home and boozing then I guess you will be ok. Also just remember that you will suffer for it. Or you will pay for it on the 1st when you wake up with a nasty hangover.

Happy New Years!
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Old 12-30-2010, 08:08 PM
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Supercrew, I did that a couple of times. One time drinking nothing at a party and then driving home to have some "useless" small number before bed. Other times just drinking normally (well, what was normal for me, and not necessarily a rough go of it). And then other times, on the heavier side too. I did of course think about the fact that New Year's Eve as an occasion to drink was kind of ruined by my drinking throughout the year. Then I lost interest in the day even more and eventually was ready to quit.
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Old 12-30-2010, 08:14 PM
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"Or if you are gonna be alone at home and boozing then I guess you will be ok."

I got some of my worst injuries drinking at home. Bruises from running into coffee tables..Cuts on my fingers after getting lit and then thinking I am a star from the Food Network. It was always time to whip up some meal at 11:00 at night.. I fell one time and hit my head on the nightstand..HARD. Not sure why I am here to tell that story. SO if you stay home..strap yourself into a recliner so you don't get hurt.

I am still going to stay with my original vote..just quit now. If you are drinking tonight..call tomorrow day 1. That way..YOU CAN JOIN THE DECEMBER CLUB!

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Old 12-30-2010, 08:16 PM
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Think of it this way, if you quit today, in 2012 you can say you quit in 2010 instead of 2011!
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Old 12-30-2010, 08:32 PM
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I never could do it like that. I would just wake up hungover the next day and make it more likely that I would drink again. I would go ahead and stop now. I'm just on my fifth day after my last relapse. My last drink was at 5:00 on Christmas.
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Old 12-30-2010, 08:33 PM
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Originally Posted by MsCooterBrown View Post
"Or if you are gonna be alone at home and boozing then I guess you will be ok."

I got some of my worst injuries drinking at home. Bruises from running into coffee tables..Cuts on my fingers after getting lit and then thinking I am a star from the Food Network. It was always time to whip up some meal at 11:00 at night.. I fell one time and hit my head on the nightstand..HARD. Not sure why I am here to tell that story. SO if you stay home..strap yourself into a recliner so you don't get hurt.

I am still going to stay with my original vote..just quit now. If you are drinking tonight..call tomorrow day 1. That way..YOU CAN JOIN THE DECEMBER CLUB!

Yea, I have had some incidents at home too. But you know what I mean. At home you don't have to worry about a DUI, cops, fights, saying something you may regret. Booze at home was a better idea for me most of the time if I was going to drink.
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Old 12-30-2010, 09:03 PM
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Originally Posted by ISPYSOBRIETY View Post
why not plan a brisk walk right before the crack of dawn, rain sleet of snow. Walking straight won't be a problem. Let the son rise on the first dawn of the year, on a Saturday morning, with your feet planted firmly on the ground. Get home from the walk and fix yourself a huge, outstanding breakfast, coffee while half the world (NOT US here) wake up feeling garbage.


i like the sound of that! i was planning on doing nothing and kinda meh about it...but that sounds like a good challenge..considering its -5c here at night..so crack of dawn wont be too much warmer LOL

ive had enough big bangs, im surprized im still in one piece
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Old 12-30-2010, 09:45 PM
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My last drink ended up with me in jail. Sure wish I had quit the day before.
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Old 12-30-2010, 09:57 PM
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Sounds like you almost have you're mind up to drink anyway. You might just be trying to justify it by it being New Year's and everything. I ended up drinking at home alone a lot. Even on New Year's last year I drank by myself at home and felt like a piece of sh*t the next 1 1/2 days. I'm 35 days sober now and I look at it this way. I've learned that when you get so drunk and have a blowout and blackout, passout, whatever, you never know what can happen to the central nervous system. It can actually cut off mechanisms in the CNS and interrupt your pulmonary system where you eventually stop breathing. This happens, especially with binge drinkers, college kids, whoever parties the hardest. I used to drink to passout and now I'm lucky to be alive. You never know what can happen do you? Good Luck
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Old 12-31-2010, 02:58 AM
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I almost died the last time I drank - I also was home and alone. No one would've known....that sadly wasn't uncommon for me.....I was more a home drinker.

I woke up by some divine intervention and while I experienced things I never had before....well I tossed the booze then and there and got into recovery and will never sip nor drink alcohol again. That is my bag and its how I changed me and my life. Nothing like waking up and loving who you see that mirror.....been a long time overdue

Now the calendar thing? For me it is smoke and mirrors. I tried countless times to do it and you know what happened? 10 years of drinking and most of it was hardcore.

Quitting in the here and now is the best thing in my experience. Don't wait for a date or a sign. Alcoholics play russian roulette my friend.....I sure as heck did.
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Old 12-31-2010, 02:59 AM
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Someone told me once that "whatever you are doing at midnight, is how you will spend the New Year"...

I know that is most likely some old tale...

But it is a nice idea, that if we are sober on New Years Eve as the clock strikes 12...we are bringing in the New Year Sober, and will continue to be sober.

Far better than being hungover on New Year's Day, because we felt we had to "celebrate" by drinking alcohol.

Also...If we are already starting off our New Year hungover, we will most likely need another drink, and the thoughts will come... after all it is a holiday, again...and again...then it's just postponing the decision and action to change.

Then guilt comes because we didn't keep our word, and then we will drink again, over the guilt. When will the perfect day be then, when each day blurs into the next one...I'll change on this day, that day...

So change, and change now, for you Happy Healthy New Year!

One final thought... The idea about one last time... it's like romanticizing it, not seeing it for what it really is, this idea of glorifying it, is a bad idea. It's the illusion that we will enjoy our drinking one more time...

It is an illusion. It is a lie. Don't fall for it.
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Old 12-31-2010, 06:15 AM
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spqr

Trust me. Even your family is not monitoring your drinking--and even if they are, people do not make a fuss over someone NOT drinking. Have you ever in your life seen a "scene" over someone turning down a drink? All the time--people turn down drinks because they are getting a cold or because they are driving or because they are just not in the mood for drinking. Only alcoholics think that is is ever required and that everyone notices.

It does not have to be a drama.
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Old 12-31-2010, 06:45 AM
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This post is bringing back memories, vague ones, of all the times I was going to make a dramatic and unforgettable "last drink." I don't think I ever did with the intention of scarring myself for life with alcohol, but I do remember typical alcoholicisms like "I can't have my Last Drink Ever be cheap vodka, I need to buy some expensive liquor."

Then I'd wake up the next morning: sick, guilty and really wanting to drink again, with no consolation that I'd spent $40 getting there rather than $8. So, sure enough, I *had to* plan another L.D.E....
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Old 12-31-2010, 07:05 AM
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I was on my Facebook account this morning and everyone is saying how they are gonna bring it tonight, do it up big, bring in 2011 right (wasted), how 2011 is gonna be the best/better, ect. I look at these status updates and think really? New Year's is stupid. It's really just another day/night. Not that big of a deal. I never made a big deal about it even when I was a drunk. It's kinda of funny and to me a little immature to be honest. O well, glad I won't be hung-the-f-over come January 1st.
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Old 12-31-2010, 07:07 AM
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Me too, Isaiah. Big time. It's like I wanted to throw a goodbye party for the booze, like my best friend was moving away. But those never ended up being my last drink. My real last drink came and went unrecognized until the next day. I didn't even have a hangover—I was just sick of all the excuses, sick of the endless groundhog-day nature of my life, sick of waiting all day for that next drink, sick of myself.

My recommendation would be to skip the blowout; no one's on this site because alcohol has been a friend to them. Forget the fanfare and just kick it to the curb. I thought life would be boring without a drink; it was amazing to me how quickly I started to feel better about the world, other people, and especially myself. Why wait another day?
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