It happened. I relapsed.
 

I have been so positive and felt so supported during my first five days of relapse. Yesterday, I was left all alone with my roommates going on various trips. I even DD'd thursday and friday. Yesterday I was bored and had a beer, one little beer turned into a pint of vodka. I am ashamed and I dont know where to start back again and get the motivation I had before. I will not drink today. Has anyone else relapsed for one day, five days in?

I've relapsed on a daily basis for a long time (waking up in the morning vowing NOT to drink at least for one day - ha.) I've relapsed on day one, two, three, four, five, etc and etc.
You're hardly alone, we are alcoholics and we relapse. Identify triggers, dust yourself off and don't drink today.

Willpower alone probably won't be enough for you; it isn't for most people. You need one or more of the following: a plan, IRL support, fellowship, alternate activities, etc.

Hello-glad your here, love the quote under your post. Pick yourself up, dust off and turn your map right-side-up again. As for me, I got sober and never looked back- there is nothing appealing or tempting about the horrible places alcohol took me- but we are all different- so, I would suggest that you just go forward from here. God bless.

I agree. I was going to go to an AA meeting on Friday but felt really happy and bubbly the hour before deciding that if I went my first time full of energy I might not be taken seriously.

The mere act of walking through the door shows you are serious.

We don't need to be half-dead, depressed, have a disheveled appearance and sour mug with our pockets turned out to walk through those doors.

All you need is a desire to stop drinking.

When you actually walk through that door, you'll see for yourself. :)

I've quit before and not made it through the afternoon....What did you learn from it?

One beer = More

Now you have that knowledge in the bank....Carry on and try again.

I do have to admit...When I walked through the doors of AA I knew I was done...And haven't had a drink since. It took me doing that to admit...I was beat.

Like most of us on here I have relapsed more than once. Don't spend the day beating yourself up over it. It happened, it is in the past and you learned from it. Smile at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself that today is a great day for Day 1. Love yourself most and you'll do great, I know it!

It happens. Just don't dwell on it, or you'll probably just end up drinking again. If it were easy to quit, everyone would. It's HARD. You can do this. Pick yourself up. Brush yourself off, and reevaluate yourself You got this!!

Google and read AA's "How It Works" and "The Doctors Opinion" and see if you can identify.

If you have the disease of Alcoholism as I do this is not a game, it is a progressive disease that will end in death after much suffering.

All the best.

Bob R

I've slipped up five times since I first seriously tried to quit. One time after 6 hours. The simple answer is, you spit in your hands, take fresh hold and start again, one day at a time. Simple, yes. Easy... no, it isn't. But nothing that's worthwhile is.

relapse oh yea over and over. This clown just was not done with his act, till I finally surrendered. :)

Try that meeting I love um. :)

Oh yes, I've relapsed over and over and over on about every day of sobriety you can imagine since I first got serious about stopping... in 2008. I've had a few longer stretches (like a couple of months or so), but over time it's gotten harder to stop and harder to stay stopped. I've finally decided that I really can't do it on my own - I need to find a program that works for me and have been doing some research. There are lots of different ones out there. My advice to you is to do that sooner rather than later - there is no reason to carry on with the misery of drinking as long as me and lot of us have.

Good luck to you, looing forward to following your story.

I have it firmly implanted in my brain that if I pick up a drink (even 1 tiny sip of weak beer) I will swell up to the size of a blimp... my liver will explode and I will die.
Kind of like a morbid version of a cartoon!. (Itchy and scratchy maybe)
I use that thought to stop me from drinking. Been there, done that, not very nice!
I'm not sure what my mindset would be if I didn't get sick last year, because, even though I was very very ill, alcohol had hold of me... I was still drinking on the day I was taken to hospital.
You just have to know that you are done with it.
You have to focus on the lows of alcohol rather than the highs.

I love it, Zee, I'm putting that image in my toolbox!

The progressiveness of alcoholism is shared by every addition where a tolerance to the stimulus is developed as a result of frequent use. An opiate addiction is a classic example, where a daily maintenance consumption for an experienced user of 1000 mg per day would kill opiate naive people.

You said you got bored and drank, ChasingJ. For me, I needed to come to a place in my mind where I would not drink no matter how bored, angry, lonely, anxious, depressed, tired, no matter how good that idea might seem. I know that you can do that for yourself too. Can you ask what is it that you learned by drinking this time? Things we learn can be part of a stronger commitment to our sobriety. I hope it works that way for you.