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I had three beers tonight. Goodness, I just craved a cold beer, and for the first time, a couple of posts on SR served as a trigger and not a deterrent. This speaks more about my early recovery than SR. You see what you are looking for.

I stopped when I realized I can't attend to my children if I am drunk. They are sleeping, but if they were to wake with a fever, I can't drive with this amount of alcohol in my body. So I am now drinking tea, proud of myself for not finishing the rest of the beer (confirms the fact that I am alcoholic) and getting ready to sleep and start anew.

With all due respect 2grandfathers, PLEASE don't suggest AA again. I anticipate you being the first to reply. :-) I am working recovery, and AA is not for me right now.

Ha! I'm the first to reply. What are you going to do with the rest of the beer?

I think it is fantastic you stopped at three :)

We have friends over often, so we always have the option of offering them a beer if they want one.

I felt drunk after three. And then I wanted to keep going. Scary.

I think Bob is on vacation.

Ok so no AA - your call - but what are you going to do C4G?

What are you going to add to what you've been doing for the next time you crave a cold beer ?

Yep. Been there.

I just think you should give yourself some credit for stopping when you did and keep moving forward tomorrow. Look at how far you've come as opposed to being down about tonight's lapse.

Well, hopefully you'll be able to stay out of it. My wife kept the wine collection in the house and I never touched it once I was in early recovery, despite the fact I'd drank and swapped out each bottle probably a half dozen times.

I hope you can find a way to manage the cravings and obsession long enough for them to go away.

Maybe you're not an alcoholic. 3 beers and stopped. If I were to do that it would be complete hell. I was told to see if I was an alcoholic never have more than 3 beers in an evening and never more than one per hour. Try that for a year, and if you stick to it, odds are you're not.

My experience with sobriety is we only sober up when we're desperate. For some that means multiple DUI's, jail, interventions, etc... for others it could be slurring your words slightly when reading your kids a bedtime story.

Kudos to you. There is no way I could have stopped at 3 especially this early in recovery.

Dee, I can always count on you to ask the question I always ask myself. For reasons that make sense to me, AA is not my course of action right now. I am sober but anxious right now.

I am going to journal for a couple more minutes, and go to bed. Thanks all, for weighing in and being there tonight.

There is no doubt. I am an alcoholic. I just seem to keep it in check for now, but when I am alone, look out.

rest well everyone.

As others have said well done for stopping at those 3 - especially as you were tempted not to! Have a good sleep :)

I tried. I failed. I succeeded. I didn't join AA, but I did keep adding, trying new tools, new ideas, as Dee suggests. AVRT has been useful to me. Some very cool discussions about that on the secular connections forums. Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius gave me a boost, too, but strangely enough there are no forums for that here... ;)

My point is to keep trying new combinations—I don't doubt for a second that you're an alcoholic, or that you can get yourself clear of it. :)

Thing is .... you caught yourself and you are admitting there is a problem. Please don't beat yourself up over it. Kind of like riding a bike, you fall off, get back up and back on and keep going. :)

Welcome to SR Rebecca :)

D

I would not think too much about you drinking 3 beers. If you decide that you want to stop drinking then don't drink. After 3 hours you should be legally allow to drive with 0 BAC in your system.

Just because you crave a cold beer does not mean your alcohol, if that was true then everyone would be a foodaholic. Knowing your sign of over drinking is also important just because you over do it alone but don't do it in public does not mean your alcoholic. You could just have a problem with alcohol when your alone with your thoughts which is always a bad thing to do in general for an alcoholic or a non-alcoholic person.

Anyway good luck with not drinking. Watch out for your triggers!

this was me too.

I ended up all day everyday drinker.
Alcoholism wasn't about volume for me...not as much as it was about obsession and effect.

You better believe if I ever stopped at 3 I used that as proof for the next year that I wasn't an alcoholic....best bait ever for the alcoholic hook.

You know yourself better than anyone :)

I'm not sure why some seem determined to convince you otherwise Change :dunno:

D

Yeahhhh... not sure if I can say this, but the 3 beers post is quite an iffy one for me. It's made me want 3 beers over 3 hours that's for sure! It's a good job it's only just gone 7am here.

Exactly Dee. It isn't the amount I drink. It is how I feel before, during, and after I do it. It is an obsession and unhealthy. I normally can't stop once I start. Last night was an anomoly, and in no way indicative of me being able to control it.