Surlyredhead

My aftercare counselor said it best:

When the urge to drink hits.....Don't think, Don't drink, Make a meeting and pray like hell.

Early in recovery, I tried not to overthink everything, I did my best not to take that first drink, I made meetings...and I prayed A LOT. That along with a solid support group, lots of phone numbers, gratitude coming out of my ears, forgiving myself for being sick...AND not forgetting how horrible I felt for a soild month after I quit drinking...all had added up to being sober since 4/27/94

Cathy

susanlauren

I worked the steps of Alcoholics Anonymous as if my life depended upon them. Susan Lauren

JoeCree

I don't suggest following what I have done, because I think most people woudl relapse - however I am now over a year by simply committing myself to SR website (reading daily). I also make short goals - at first 1 month, then 3, then 1 year --- every time the date comes I re-establish a firm date. It somehow feels more humane to do it like this -- since it is very difficult for humans in general to commit to "anything" for a lifetime.

My 1 year occurred on 11-11-11... and I have re-established until 11-11-12 to re-evaluate at that time. The first 6 months were very difficult, and periodically it all seems terrible - but I just come here and read when I feel like that.

EricL

I'd say "don't drink" but that implies I somehow woke up today (or any day) and made some decision to not drink. That's never worked for me. Countless times I woke up and made that solemn promise to myself, my family, my friends, and found myself drunk before lunch. Fired up and looking for a buck to keep me going.

What worked for me was being beaten into a state of reasonableness by alcohol. By having my very soul crushed to the point of my only two options being suicide or surrendering to this completely and giving up. Not trying to fight everyday but instead opening my mind to the idea that these AAers may have something. A spiritual solution it was, and I was skeptical, but I couldn't argue with their lives, heir experience. They showed up to meetings in cars they owned, talking about jobs they had, families they had. They truly seemed happy. They also talked about the way they were prior to finding the solution they were trying to share with me, and I could identify with them as real alcoholics. This was the first step in my recovery, and total freedom, from alcoholism-simply giving up, and being willing to either blot out my intolerable existence until I finally died, or accept this truly radical solution.

The urge to drink was removed rapidly after that point.

LaFemme

I just gave up. I got to the point where I realized drinking was too much work and too much misery and there was nothing positive about the consumption of it.

And I posted here...a lot

eJoshua

This is a great thread, good responses! Thanks everyone for sharing.

betterlate

I wore out alcohol. It ceased being enjoyable, and started being more like a second job. I was working for the liquor store. Perceiving that was a real eye-opener. So, I stopped, relapsed a few months later, stopped drinking again and just passed one year.

For me, realizing that drinking ultimately made my life boring and me tiresome (from being hungover) is what changed my perception of alcohol permanently.

Rusty Zipper

mid-life timer here

as an alcoholic of my type,

i surrendered to my alcoholism

Pete55

I heard 2 things today from an old timer, first one was, "ya gotta want sobriety more than the drink and, desperation"
Has 40 years sober and the member's story was simply fascinating.
Not a "war story", just simply How it was, AA, The Steps, Sponsor, and life today,
got the message through in just under 12 minutes.

keithj

Continued failure with not drinking produced enough desperation for me to surrender completely and take the 12 Steps of AA.

onlythetruth

Interesting, people are answering this question as though you asked what was the most important thing they did to quit drinking. (To that, the answer, in my case, is that I made a permanent, unchangeable commitment never to drink again. That was more than 13 years ago.)

But REALLY, what you've asked is what we did to get to the place where we took those important actions. Right? I mean, what you really want to know is what made us "get it".

In SMART Recovery terms, then, what you are asking is what happened to move us from the "contemplation" stage of recovery (where you want to quit, and maybe take a couple of stabs at it, but aren't truly committed) to the "action" stage, where you do the work.

In SMART, we have tools to help people examine their addictive behaviors to see the real impact they have on their lives. This is very helpful in the difficult process of getting from the "contemplation" stage to the "action" stage. If you have a face to face SMART meeting in your area, you can go check that out; if not, there are online meetings, a chat room and an active forum at:

SMART Recovery® | Self Help for Addiction & Alcohol Abuse

michelle01

There was an element of surrender. Because I was at my wit's end. I went back to the 'experts' and actually listened to them this time around, instead of trying to do it all my way. I relapsed several times before getting a year plus sober, I had to get out of my head the mentality that once in awhile was okay, because that's just not recovery.

I had to put recovery in front of everything else in my life. But other areas of my life have definitely improved as a result of my sobriety, so it's a win-win.

Remember the old show 'The Wonder Years'? There was an episode where Kevin is struggling with his maths, finally he goes to his teacher and admits 'I give up, I have no idea what I'm doing.' The teacher turns to him and says 'Good, maybe now we can get started!'

A book helped me understand some of the reasons why I relapsed, 'Staying Sober', Terence Gorski. I hope it doesn't sound like a plug, but it helped me and there are good extracts online. There are no quick, instant fixes, 2 years in I'm still learning and am 'a work in progress'. Life is still sometimes difficult but I don't make mountains out of the molehills anymore, and I make sure I get help if I need it.

Very grateful to now be sober, but don't take it for granted.

Rusty Zipper

where's the link to the A.A. forum

LosingmyMisery

I had to learn how "not" to drink. I had no skills to cope. I drank. I had to tell myself I "don't" drink any longer. I also had to work on the reasons why I drank in the first place. I call it healing the pain from my past. I had a lot of baggage I had to sort through and put it behind me. The key is to keep moving forward no matter what and don't drink.

24hrsAday

i am no old timer (yet) however, had i not surrendered 100% and quit drinking i know beyond a single doubt i would not be alive today. i give all the credit to A.A. and god as i do NOT understand him/her/ it! living one day at a time is key for me also. great thread! thanks..