DarkDays

Trying to work out what to do with the extra ££ is the hardest part for me

I am going out tonight and really looking forward to it, picking friends up then to Wine bar to see a bit of live music then a nice curry , yes I am looking forward to it all without alcohol !

Charon

Hardest for me was not being able to shut off my mind and become comfortably numb.

2granddaughters

I'm not comfortable when I'm numb. I am more comfortable though when I practice the wise advice of an oldtimer "Think good thoughts".

Optimists seem to have a happier day than pessimists. I'm finding I have a choice.

All the best.

Bob R

foodie1

This is exactly what was the hardest for me.

persevere83

The hardest part of quitting alcohol for me is finding a replacement. I drank for a long time because I enjoyed it. I don't like the consequences of making poor decisions afterward though.
Drinking was a hobby that I enjoyed for a long time. Trying to find a new hobby that I am genuinely interested in has been a challenge.

RobbyRobot

The most difficult challenge in my finally quitting drinking was in my honest and earnest simple requesting and accepting help from others with the singular purpose of my forever stopping getting drunk. No more playing around. And along with all that, my also being responsible and following thru on their suggestions and supports. Really tough for me to take a hand up. At the time, I trusted not myself and so of course then it followed I trusted no one else.

As I continued to surrender to my chronic alcoholism consequences and realities, my difficulties likewised eased and the help coming my way started to create what was needed for ongoing changes in my daily sober experiences. It began to work for me.

The next and final hardest thing to do was to reach out and help others as I had been helped. This was very difficult for me to do because I had a serious hate-on for most anything that breathed because I completely hated myself. Again, following suggestions from others helping me I began to help others in my turn, and from there the last of my difficulties were truly being faced and dealt with. Success! I've never had to look back since learning to be accepting of help from others, and of being of service and help to others in my turn as I live my sober journey. It's still how I do it today.

CorgiDad

So far for me it has been coming to the realization that support groups (e.g., AA) are in fact just support groups. It is up to me to muster up my own strength and take the initiative in stopping. Attending AA won't magically make me sober but it will help me to increase my strength to resist urges.

We had a speaker last Wednesday night who said that if she could good us her sobriety, she would not. For me it means that sobriety is something that is earned. Becoming sober is journey that I need to take the lead on and AA and SR are there to help. Kind of like the proverb, "Give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you will feed him for a lifetime."

Recently, I've been thinking about the phrase, "Rome wasn't built in a day." Yeah sure, patience whatever. But it also took the initiative, ambition, ingenuity, and strength of millions of legionaries, generals, senators, engineers, and emperors to transform Rome from an insignificant city-state into a massive empire stretching from Britain to Mesopotamia. They didn't wait around for their empire to form on its own, they went out and conquered the s*** out of Europe, Africa, and Asia. I think this analogy helps, just ignore the part where they overrun by Germanic tribes and eventually collapse

Nirvana1

Breaking old habits and doing almost the opposite of what I really wanted to do for a very long time.