New here, I have a drinking problem.
A work in progress
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: South Jersey
Posts: 16,633
Here's the link about what to expect at your first AA meeting.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: scotland
Posts: 1,493
hello sleven and welcome to sr...great to see in your last post that you are going to drive that 50 miles if you have to! willing to go to any lengths.
i got on a train once from north east scotland to london...nearly 600 miles and 10 hours travelling...for one night of boozing with another alcoholic friend...then got back on the train the next day and came all the way back.
in ealry sobriety i would catch 2 buses and walk in snow to get to meetings..in the begining this stood me in good stead.
welcome again.
i got on a train once from north east scotland to london...nearly 600 miles and 10 hours travelling...for one night of boozing with another alcoholic friend...then got back on the train the next day and came all the way back.
in ealry sobriety i would catch 2 buses and walk in snow to get to meetings..in the begining this stood me in good stead.
welcome again.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Louisville, KY
Posts: 5
I read your posts before I registered on here. You remind me of myself. I do fine until I'm off work. I really don't want my family knowing that I am trying to quit, because of the fear of failure. I have a son who will soon be 9 and I'm afraid of the example I am setting. Deep down, I know if I don't quit drinking, I will regret many years of my life. This is what scares me the most. Good luck
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 17
Peace28, I am still offshore, for one more week. I worried and worried over telling my wife. Finally I broke down and called last night and told her I was quitting because I know I have a problem. She was very supportive, even when i told her I was going to find an AA meeting to attend.
You see, she doesnt drink,at all. So, she said she will be with me all the way. Man, it felt better after I told her.
And every time I read posts here, or talk with people here, it makes me feel better. I am going to conquer this addiction .
You see, she doesnt drink,at all. So, she said she will be with me all the way. Man, it felt better after I told her.
And every time I read posts here, or talk with people here, it makes me feel better. I am going to conquer this addiction .
Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Louisville, KY
Posts: 5
Sleven, it's not that my I don't believe my wife wouldn't support me. It really boils down to me trying to quit smoking and never being able to. She has been on me for yrs over the tobacco. I would quit, then start, quit, etc...So for me to even say I was going to quit drinking probably wouldn't matter. She's heard it before, just involving another addiction. Good luck when you get back
Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: San Diego
Posts: 4,451
I also hope that becoming sober, will let me not get as agitated over little things all the time
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 17
I will be home from offshore in a week. Thats when I will have to be the strongest. I am making plans to do different things to take up my time . I am actually excited about it.
I will be checking in here as I do every day. I dont post every day, but I come here and read, and it has really opened my eyes.
I will be checking in here as I do every day. I dont post every day, but I come here and read, and it has really opened my eyes.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: LA - Lower Alabama
Posts: 5,068
Sleven,
I am only one state over in AL and I know all the AA groups along the coast. PM me if you want to hit a meeting together.
I will warn you on one thing. Your comment:
Reminds me of myself. I drug my tired hungover butt into AA with the same attitude. What I found out was I had to surrender to win. I couldn't and can't beat alcohol - it beat me. Once I accepted that staying sober became a lot easier.
I am only one state over in AL and I know all the AA groups along the coast. PM me if you want to hit a meeting together.
I will warn you on one thing. Your comment:
I am going to conquer this addiction
Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Australia
Posts: 91
That's it Slevin and it is exciting, you whole life will turn around for the better. Is your rig a "dry camp", I'm assuming it is but obviously could be wrong. If it is and you can keep yourself busy with the support of your wife, AA, this site and other activities then you just need to get through this break. If you can get through this break by the time your next break comes around when alcohol will be available again you will have almost 90 days! That's how I looked at it when I first started, I just needed to get through the first full break and then I had another tour before being faced with the temptations again but by then I had three more weeks under my belt. I'm getting excited for you!
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 17
Originally Posted by Shoei 
That's it Slevin and it is exciting, you whole life will turn around for the better. Is your rig a "dry camp", I'm assuming it is but obviously could be wrong. If it is and you can keep yourself busy with the support of your wife, AA, this site and other activities then you just need to get through this break. If you can get through this break by the time your next break comes around when alcohol will be available again you will have almost 90 days! That's how I looked at it when I first started, I just needed to get through the first full break and then I had another tour before being faced with the temptations again but by then I had three more weeks under my belt. I'm getting excited for you!
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 17
29 days
29 days sober, but I get off this oil rig tommorrow and back into a world where there is alcohol.
I pray to have the strength to stay away from it. I am going to locate a meeting and go to it as soon as I can.
I pray to have the strength to stay away from it. I am going to locate a meeting and go to it as soon as I can.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 567
Welcome Sleven ,
I am new to the forum to, but not new to sobriety and learning more and more each day to work with the newcomer.
I can only share my expirience on what directions were suggested after my first meeting.
I was approached by the doorman and he suggested I don't leave without the "Big Book" titled Alcoholics Anonymous, ( this is where the fellowship gets it's name from, the title of the book!)
It was also suggested to purchase the "Blue Book", 12 Steps and 12 Traditions.
When I went home that night, I could not stop reading the "Big Book" !
I was reading about myself, the "real" alcoholic on page 21.
Prior to that paragraph are the two other descriptions of drinkers, moderate drinkers or hard drinkers, the ones that can stop.
I was definately not one them, I was the real alcoholic.
Because if you identify with the real alcoholic, the one with the phenomenon of craving that drinks more after the first drink, which is physical, in other words, how our body chemicaly reacts to alcohol, then you will have a better understanding of the first half of Step 1, ( We admited we were poweless over alcohol,).
Meaning, no matter what, when alcohol enters our body, we then crave more.
We are poweless to stop the craving AFTER the first drink, because it is physical.
There is also another part of the first half of Step 1, that is the mental obssesion, it's how we think about alcohol before we take the first drink. We think we can drink like others, so we become obsessed to try and drink like others, and because we crave more, we drink more, and we go to that "place" called, "Mt. Oblivion"!
We return the next day if we are lucky enough to survive, and "sorry" eventually ceases to cut the cake. We eventually have a choice, go back to "Mt. Oblivion" and never to return, or, seek help.
In the fist part of the book, is the chapter, The Doctor's Opinion, he describes from a doctors point of view his obeservations of the real alcoholic on page 28
XXVIII (4th edition)"that the phenomenon of craving is limited to this class and never occurs in the average temperate drinker. These alergic types can never safely use alcohol in any form at all"...
All this was writen in 1939 when the first edition was printed, the authors were recovered alcoholics, and this was the path of recovery from actual experience. If this is what you are looking for, we hope and pray you find recovery.
This is what I was shown at my very first AA meeting in 2007, after 35 years not knowing AA existed. I was shown a gift, a truth about why I could never drink like others.
No one can tell you if you are alcoholic ( it has nothing to do with how much one has clamity in their life, it has to do with what actually happens to me after my first sip of alcohol) Calamity is the 2nd part of Step 1, "that our lives had become unmanageable.
So turn that into a question; do you crave more alcohol after you put alcohol in your body" ??
The rest is learning to live sober, and that is a gift, we no longer need to battle if we are going to drink today,because I soon found there is no choice if we are powerless. There is no power in us to stop the craving because it is physical. Very simple logic indeed. Why is this not taught in schools today in biology classes is even more baffling may I humbly add.
I just do not drink and follow the steps as suggested in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, with a sponsor I can relate to.
It's easier to not drink than to think I can drink now that I identify with the physical craving side of things.
How to find a sponsor ? I asked this question to an old timer in AA meeting, and he suggested I pray. This I did, there was nothing else left for me to lose, so I finally, em prayed. Ouch!
You see, I lost it all, the whole dice and dime. Not that I drank it all away, it's what happens when I took a drink, and that "change" in my personality occurs, coupled with the craving to drink more, it just gets worse!
No one wanted me around, and still don't. But that's ok, I'm sober and no longer my problem what others think anymore.
So yeah, I prayed to somthing "out there" and 3 weeks later at a meeting heard a guy speak, asked him after the meeting if he could take me through the steps.
I am new to the forum to, but not new to sobriety and learning more and more each day to work with the newcomer.
I can only share my expirience on what directions were suggested after my first meeting.
I was approached by the doorman and he suggested I don't leave without the "Big Book" titled Alcoholics Anonymous, ( this is where the fellowship gets it's name from, the title of the book!)
It was also suggested to purchase the "Blue Book", 12 Steps and 12 Traditions.
When I went home that night, I could not stop reading the "Big Book" !
I was reading about myself, the "real" alcoholic on page 21.
Prior to that paragraph are the two other descriptions of drinkers, moderate drinkers or hard drinkers, the ones that can stop.
I was definately not one them, I was the real alcoholic.
Because if you identify with the real alcoholic, the one with the phenomenon of craving that drinks more after the first drink, which is physical, in other words, how our body chemicaly reacts to alcohol, then you will have a better understanding of the first half of Step 1, ( We admited we were poweless over alcohol,).
Meaning, no matter what, when alcohol enters our body, we then crave more.
We are poweless to stop the craving AFTER the first drink, because it is physical.
There is also another part of the first half of Step 1, that is the mental obssesion, it's how we think about alcohol before we take the first drink. We think we can drink like others, so we become obsessed to try and drink like others, and because we crave more, we drink more, and we go to that "place" called, "Mt. Oblivion"!
We return the next day if we are lucky enough to survive, and "sorry" eventually ceases to cut the cake. We eventually have a choice, go back to "Mt. Oblivion" and never to return, or, seek help.
In the fist part of the book, is the chapter, The Doctor's Opinion, he describes from a doctors point of view his obeservations of the real alcoholic on page 28
XXVIII (4th edition)"that the phenomenon of craving is limited to this class and never occurs in the average temperate drinker. These alergic types can never safely use alcohol in any form at all"...
All this was writen in 1939 when the first edition was printed, the authors were recovered alcoholics, and this was the path of recovery from actual experience. If this is what you are looking for, we hope and pray you find recovery.
This is what I was shown at my very first AA meeting in 2007, after 35 years not knowing AA existed. I was shown a gift, a truth about why I could never drink like others.
No one can tell you if you are alcoholic ( it has nothing to do with how much one has clamity in their life, it has to do with what actually happens to me after my first sip of alcohol) Calamity is the 2nd part of Step 1, "that our lives had become unmanageable.
So turn that into a question; do you crave more alcohol after you put alcohol in your body" ??
The rest is learning to live sober, and that is a gift, we no longer need to battle if we are going to drink today,because I soon found there is no choice if we are powerless. There is no power in us to stop the craving because it is physical. Very simple logic indeed. Why is this not taught in schools today in biology classes is even more baffling may I humbly add.
I just do not drink and follow the steps as suggested in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, with a sponsor I can relate to.
It's easier to not drink than to think I can drink now that I identify with the physical craving side of things.
How to find a sponsor ? I asked this question to an old timer in AA meeting, and he suggested I pray. This I did, there was nothing else left for me to lose, so I finally, em prayed. Ouch!
You see, I lost it all, the whole dice and dime. Not that I drank it all away, it's what happens when I took a drink, and that "change" in my personality occurs, coupled with the craving to drink more, it just gets worse!
No one wanted me around, and still don't. But that's ok, I'm sober and no longer my problem what others think anymore.
So yeah, I prayed to somthing "out there" and 3 weeks later at a meeting heard a guy speak, asked him after the meeting if he could take me through the steps.
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