alchy

I have no plan. I'm over a month into recovery, doing good and turned my obsession with alcohol to fitness. But, I keep hearing about how everyone NEEDS a laid out plan to stay sober. What is "the plan"? All I know is, I was tired of drinking everyday, being hung over every day for years, and killing myself with booze. So now I've quit and I'm getting my **** together. But no "plan". Not attending any sort of support meetings. Just this site.

Dee74

Everyone's plan is going to be a little different, I think.
It's whatever works.

For me exercising never helped at all, but if it's working for you, alchy, then good stuff

D

MycoolFitz

Well I don't know My plan is to not drink and I take certain steps to assist me--seek support and support others, healthy diet and exercise, reading and meditation and so on. I guess you could call that a plan. Exchanging an out of control life of drinking for some structure that seems to be working for me.

alchy

OK. So,maybe I do have a plan then. I just didn't know it. Well good for me then. Lol
Thanks for the replies.

LosingmyMisery

Working out is good, but I think it is a good idea to have a back up plan, a plan of recovery. I went along fine doing well until I didn't. The cravings can sneak up on you out of no where. They were tough and hard to get past. For myself, I needed to learn how not to drink when they hit. I relapsed at 60 days and again at 30. It happens, but not doesn't happen for everyone. However, still very common. Just wanted to give you a heads up. Maybe working out is enough for you to stay sober. Sheesh! I wish I could get into working out. I should, but can't seem to get going. Good luck...

Vesna

For me, "the plan" is what I'm going to do when inevitable urges strike. I used the SMART Recovery tools and made up a list of all the positives and negatives of drinking. The negatives far outweigh the positives for me. I also thought about my triggers and the steps required for me to relapse, such as my mood, purchasing alcohol, etc. It made me realize that drinking is a chain reaction for me that I have the power to stop anywhere along the way. Now I feel that rather than fighting urges with sheer willpower (which will eventually lose), I have tools to turn to for help. This site is definitely one of them.

Mark75

A plan just means that we do more than just white knuckling it all the time... We search for new meaning in our journey...

Reset

At work I joke that sometimes the best decision is not to decide.

Same principle works here. Not planning can be a plan.

miamifella

The first counselor I ever saw about addiction asked me what my "plan" was when my husband was leaving town for the weekend. I told her the ways I planned to distract myself and then she told me that I had a 98% chance of using.

I never did figure out what an acceptable "plan" would have been.

lushly

Plans are very individual. But what really sticks with me. Is the physical craving/ mental obsession. The cravings lessed, but what about my head? Why's up in there? So I made it part of my plan to do some self searching with the help of a therapist, along with exercise and eating well. If I don't do the mental part of my plan I am afraid that I will relapse. I can't tell you why I feel that but.............I have never achived long term sobriety by just dieting and exercising like crazy, it helped, but then there was always some unknown trigger that pops up and my alcoholic cycle would start again. I never worked on my head and I need to.

CarolD

I wanted more from life than not drinking.....I desired a new outlook.
that's why I latched on to AA and by following the Steps.

I live with purpose...peace and joy.......

Rusty Zipper

Plan A, my plan

Plan B, one that works when i work it

Englishrose70

I use Addictive Voice Recognition. When that beasty voice says ooh you fancy a nice chilled glass of wine, just the one, wont hurt you, get you through that wedding you gotta go to. What harm can it do?

Thats not me wanting the drink. Its the alcoholic beasty bit of my brain trying to tempt me. It is powerless unless I act upon it. I will win not IT! So I dont act. (at least so far I havent, one day at a time)

Kablume

There have been times in my sobriety that things have happened so fast, such as a thought of drinking or a crisis. I pray that I will always have a plan in place that I can rely on just like I hope I have a parachute if I should go skydiving.

SSIL75

I do the same thing.

endlesspatience

Everybody's plan is different. My plan has developed into something more effective as a result of trial and error. But I would caution that the "error" part of having a weak plan which I wasn't really following anyway was a dramatic error which very nearly cost me my job, home, health and reputation.

onlythetruth

I had a similar experience: a counselor I was seeing in early sobriety asked what my plan was to avoid drinking at a college reunion I was attending alone. I said "my plan" was not to drink. My counselor said that wasn't enough: I was going to drink. He told me not to go to the reunion.

Well, I did go and I didn't drink then or since (that was in 1998).

So what would an acceptable plan have been? Hiding in the closet? Spending my college reunion at a recovery meeting?

Sometimes the best plan is to commit not to drink and participate in life. In the end, that's what it's all about anyway.

OTT

gibson3479

I do great with exchanging drinking for working out as well....for a few days.I wish I could stay as dedicated to working out as I do to popping a top...... I told my husband this morning "If I could take a picture of how clear headed and not hung over I feel today,I could look at it everytime Im tempted and remember why I shouldnt. Today I start my work out routine again as well...after only 2 full days of not drinking I have lost 4 lbs ...if I keep seeing the scale drop maybe that will keep me motivated..*as the short term/instant reward...obviously the long term rewards of not drinking are MUCH more important.

miamifella

onlythetruth--

Looking back, what she did was in essence tell me that I would use. Rather than giving me that permission she could have told me about 12-step programs (which I was very ignorant of) or suggested SOMETHING. Instead, she just said it was hopeless and you will use. 12 years later it still gets me mad. I needed help and she did not offer it.

Terminally Unique

The only plan I have is to never drink again, and to never change my mind. Beyond that, I don't even think of myself as being "in recovery" or "recovering" or anything of the sort. Addictions counselors, recovery group members, and people on forums, including this one, have tried to convince me that this plan will not work, and that I will drink again, but I will do no such thing.

I use Addictive Voice Recognition Technique (AVRT) from Rational Recovery, which provides me with a perfect mental defense. It makes me immune to both any temptation to drink and also to any attempts to undermine my confidence in my own ability to abstain. I can go anywhere I want, be around alcohol all I want, keep alcohol in my house (and I do), watch movies about alcohol, be around people who drink, go to bars, parties, etc.

Even if "triggered," I am pristinely confident that I will never drink again. I do have other plans, but they are about life, not recovery.