What would your recipe for relapse be, and what are you doing to prevent it?
 

This is a bit of a twist.
If you were to TRY to relapse, what would you do?
What are you doing INSTEAD of that?

Like: If I WANTED to return to that horror of a drinking life, I would :
Keep liquor in the house.
Hang with my former drinking friends.
Quit SR completely and isolate.

Instead,:
I keep no liquor,
I accept that I no longer hang with my drinking buddies,
and I am on SR, well, ALOT!
(Haha.)

What would your relapse recipe be?

if i wanted to return to drinking i would.

Instead
The only thing that stops me is my mind, knowing how grim the whole experience of drinking is for me .

Bestwishes, M

If I wanted to drink I would have gone out to a football game yesterday (where a friend and I would often drink from morning to early morning the next day)

Instead I took overtime at work to remove myself from temptation :)

- To disregard all that I have now and the true meaning of; "any form or amount."

- I have to be reminded daily that "any form or amount" will land me right back in the hellish cycle, with just the twist of the wrist.

I would have to fall for one of my 2 favorite delusions, that I could control it, or that it would somehow be different this time.

This is an interesting question, and I can't think of anything that would make me pick up another drink. I think, if I wanted to self destruct (which drinking again would cause), I'd probably pick up drugs instead, thinking I could control those. Something to numb me out.
I'd end up in the same place though, rock bottom.

So instead, I never forget that whatever it is that allows me chemical freedom from reality is something I need to avoid no matter what.

well, after getting some news yesterday regarding my ex boyfriend, and experiencing how I felt just from that tiny bit of information. I think my recipe would be to get back together with him, or at this point probably enter ANY "romantic" relationship.

That is my weak spot.

Second would be to stop taking my meds for bi-polar.

third would be isolate, isolate, isolate.

-Stop getting to meetings
-Stop calling my sponsor and other AA members
-Stop "doing the drill" (prayer, meditation, daily reflections, etc)

Basically, if I get complacent toward *anything* that is aiding my sobriety.

There are so many things that could make me relapse. Concert with friends...random night at the bar....weather...aggravation at too many responsibilities...bad day at work...day that ends in y...

Initially what stopped me was SR and a fear of serious health complications from alcohol. Now I've added feeling better physically and mentally to the things that are keeping me stopped.

1.) Carefully plan out every detail of the relapse ahead of time.
2.) Make sure I had adequate time off to be passed out 24/7 during the relapse.
3.) Purchase Liquor from multiple stores so they don't think I am an Alcoholic.
4.) Hide Stash Bottles in at least three places.
5.) Make sure I have no Driving, errands, or Appointments to do other than to a Liquor Store.
6.) Complete all essential tasks (like feed the Dog) since I will be useless during the relapse.
7.) Lie to myself and say "It will be different this time".
8.) Prepare for the unbearable suffering I am about to put myself through.

1. Stop planning early Saturday and Sunday activities
2. Forget about my fitness goals
3. Quit reading SR
4. Plan how to lie to my parents (yes, I know I'm 36) that I'm still not drinking
5. Clear my schedule after 4pm bc I will be useless after that
6. Practice what to say to doctors to get vicodin
7. Sneak into my folks house to steal meds
8. Buy a new pipe
9.

My relapse thing is in my head all the time!

It goes kind of like this....


.. you're not an alcoholic. An alcoholic? Come on! That's serious. But you can't drink in moderation. Well I have in the past. But what about when you go out with friends? Oh god Christmas is coming up. Sober christmas? WTF? You will be slimmer though. Its nice not having a hangover. An alcoholic? Alcoholics drink every day and drink in the morning. You don't do that. But you black out. Maybe just one drink every now and then is OK...

But am fighting it!

If I were to relapse it would probably start innocently enough....my self-talk would be, "just a glass of wine, what could that hurt"? and if I was really on a relapse binge then it would result in any excuse to get to the grocery store to buy vodka, transfer it to water bottles and toss the actual bottles in the store trash. I would then be able to smuggle the water bottles into the house and no one is the wiser. I'd sit on the couch, watching useless reality TV for hours while I slowly went into a blackout coma and would probably wake up around 2am and start drinking again so that I could go back to sleep.

What am I doing to prevent this from happening? Anything and everything. I am on SR almost daily, I have a count up clock that keeps me honest on my actual day count that I can look at whenever I need to be reminded. I continue to work on my extreme self-care regimen which includes completely changing my eating habits to get high doses of vitamins into my system first thing in the morning (green smoothies) and exercise each day. I'm putting myself in challenging situations that I know if I drank I would fail (advanced training for 6 weeks) until I can build a stronger resolve over time.

Reading others stories on 30 days and < and in my August sober class etc.... help me realize how far I've come in 35 days and the mere thought of throwing that all away is keeping me honest at least for now.

Great thread BTW, thanks for challenging us all to think ahead of acting on these thoughts;-)

If I were to relapse I would...

- stop coming here
- give my new phone number to the dealers and people I could contact to pick up
- believe that I have finally beaten the addiction and do not need to do anything more.

Instead I will...

- Come here every day
- Make sure I have no way to contact dealers or undesirables, and that they have no way to contact me
- Continue to recognize and identify the addictive voice and the many faces it has.

A Recipe for my Relapse:

Hide my sobriety. Be ashamed of sobriety.
Start caring more about what others think of me than what I think of my myself.
Focus on immediate short term gratifications.
Stop working on goals. Stop planning for the future.
Glamorize drinking.
Spend a lot of time in fantasy, or obsessing about the past or worrying about the future.
Allow myself to wallow in self~pity.


My Relapse Prevention Recipe:

Stay open and honest about my sobriety. Take appropriate pride in it.
Regularly check where I stand with myself regarding self respect.
Remind myself of the big picture.
Set realistic goals, and plan for a sober future.
Remember all the ugliness of addiction.
Meditate and stay present centered.
Post twice daily on gratitude threads. Try to help those less fortunate.

No chance of a relapse here.

If that is what I wanted to do, I would have thought something natural, such as I am entitled to a drink, it's a nice day, everybody else does it, I don't have to get drunk, who cares...

My recipe for relapse would be EXCUSES! And what am I doing to prevent it? Not making up EXCUSES.

My recipe for relapse would be to forget how utterly dependent I was on alcohol. Forget how hopeless and totally helpless I felt. Forget how deeply ashamed I was of it, and how much I had to keep secret from those I love. Forget how I was basically crawling through life. Forget how I was a person divided against herself and never ever felt whole.

In order to not forget, I post, particularly with those just starting to recover. I learn from them as much (if not more than) they learn from me. I also have read my old posts to help with my denial. I did that last month when I completely blocked out what I was like only nine months ago. I was living a sub human life and if I keep that fresh than it will prevent relapse.